All Forum Posts by: Lorenzo Prieto

@Holly Baum is a great local real estate agent who I've worked with in the past. Feel free to reach out to her. 

Hey Morgan, Welcome to Bigger Pockets! Sounds like you are in a awesome position to begin investing which is exciting! The hybrid house hacking strategy that you are shooting for may not be doable for FHA. I don't believe that you can do AirBnb with an FHA loan. They do not allow rentals that are less than 30 days...

However with a great deal and up-to-date market rents you can certainly still shoot for cash flow on a 4 unit while you live in one of the units.

I invest and live in Colorado and I think it's a great market! I have a property near a University and see quite a bit of multi-units with tons of potential. To answer your "what I would do" question I would certainly use my FHA loan to purchase a multi-unit , live in one unit and rent out the others to cash flow.

For your question on using the property as collateral you can certainly do this. As you pay down the principal and property continues to appreciate you will build equity and can leverage that equity to purchase more properties.

Happy Investing, feel free to reach out with questions!

Hey Patrick! 

Here's what I've noticed in my local market deals as a MLO in Colorado and talking with other investors and first-time homebuyers. 

1. More price reductions. 

2. Seller Credits. - Super helpful to pay for closing costs and interest rate buy downs. 

3. The use of 2/1 buy downs, and ARMS. 

Hope this helps!

Hi Harmony, I'll shoot you a DM. 

What is more important is finding a lender that has the mortgage programs and interest rates that fit your investment needs. The lender does not need to be local to you or the property necessarily. I'd reach out to a few lenders and compare closing costs, interest rates, loan programs, etc etc and base my decision off of who fits with you the best. 

Hi Emily, in my experience Credit Unions seem to have favorable terms and conditions. I'd check with a couple of local credit unions and also bigger banks to see what they can offer especially since it seems a lot of lenders are starting to get rid of programs lately. A few questions I'd ask about are: pre-payment penalties, interest rate caps, closing/origination costs, and if any annually fees. 

Please reach out if you have any questions, happy to help. 

Hey Andrew,

Glad that you are taking action and asking great questions!

1. 1. If I had to pick, I would go with a better class neighborhood because as you alluded to it may be easier to find better quality tenants, more appreciation, still some cash flow, and less maintenance.
2. 2. It can be super easy to spend countless hours on thinking of where to invest. What I decided to do instead was to invest locally. It’s the market that I knew the best and I have the benefit of being able to drive to the property and neighborhood to check it all out with my own eyes. I wouldn’t get too caught up in finding the “best” market to invest in, especially if its your first one. Once you have one under your belt and you’ve been a landlord for a year or so you could certainly investigate other markets. If your local market can produce some good deals I’d stick with that market.
3. 3. Personally, I didn’t consider this too much with my first investment. I just looked at the market and seen there was a high demand for places to rent and went for it.
4. 4. I used a 5% vacancy rate. However, mine was not a flat-out rental it was more of a House hack.
5. 5. I’d look at how strong the market is overall. Things like population, job growth, major employers in the area, current and future market trends, universities, etc etc.

Hope that helps!

Kyle, this is a great idea! I'm certainly going to be implementing some type of incentive for my tenants to let me know way in advance if they will not be renewing a lease. Very proactive way of going about it! 

Hey Ashley, lets talk. I've seen this sort of scenario play out before and I was able to help. Are you on a income based repayment plan w/your student loans? I'll shoot you a DM to gather some more info.  

Hi Mary, will shoot you a DM, I'd love to help.