All Forum Posts by: Matt Pitschman

Is there a way to search for properties that are zoned a certain way? I want to search an area and get a list of all the properties that are zoned for multiple units, for sale or not. Any ideas.

I am starting out in pittsburgh pa. How can I determine what is the best area, neighborhood or market to invest in? Mainly looking to buy and hold, so where people rent is important. I know some hot areas, southside, shadyside, but are there others and how do you analyze neighborhoods?

I am starting out in pittsburgh pa. How can I determine what is the best area, neighborhood or market to invest in? Mainly looking to buy and hold, so where people rent is important. I know some hot areas, southside, shadyside, but are there others and how do you analyze neighborhoods?

Pertaining to the three options we have been discussing...

1. Buying a property outside of an llc with two people in the title and mortgage. Does anyone else have experience with this? We weren't planning on having a partnership in a legal sense, only having a mortgage together and working together. It seems simple, do people do this?

2. Buying separate properties then forming an llc. We wouldn't really need to change ownership of the properties, we could hold them individually and start the llc with the third property.

3. Using seller financing. We would like to use seller financing to buy talk property. It just seems like it wi be harder to find a seller that will do it, with the property type we are looking for. We could then start the llc right away. Are there rules for seller financing? As far as two people being on a loan etc.

Our eventual goal is to own a company that rents out units. Starting and building that company is where we are focusing our planning now.

So, my friend and I have been researching real estate investing on and off over the past six months. We both have full time jobs in the pittsburgh area and are in our mid twenties. We like the idea of investing in real estate to generate extra cash flow. We are thinking we want to start with a buy and hold property that does not need much in the way of repairs. We don't know anything about fixing up properties and don't have the time. We do not have enough savings at this point to get a loan for 20% down if we were to start an llc. And we are finding that any other loan option really doesn't make sense for two people. As we cannot get a loan together and we cannot give money to one person to buy the property. I think there are laws against "gifting" money to someone. So we are trying to come up with some alternative plans. The first of which is a longer term approach. In this case we would buy separate duplexes with individual loans. Which we could afford individually with conventional loans for 5-10% down. Then save the money from the rent to eventually start an llc together and put 20% down on a third property. Using our first duplexes to back the loan for the llc. This would set us up going forward as a business with three properties between us. I think it would take less than two years to save up. What do people think of this plan?

The second idea is to really go after seller financing. We could potentially find a seller that would give a loan to both of us that we could come together to make the down payment on. In this way we could stay away from some bank rules on loans and have more freedom to potentially make a lower down payment and have the loan as partners. Does anyone have comments on this plan? We are trying to think of others, any recommendations are welcome. Thank you.

Do loans exist for non owner occupied properties with <10% down?

@Liam Goble So you got some private loans to make a down payment. I see how this could work. Did you make monthly payments to these people? And how much did you pay? Can you run through the calculation for how much you paid out to one of them monthly?

I have seen many strategies for raising funds for purchasing properties from my research. Most of them seem to pertain to properties with major rehab needed like fix and flips or wholesaling. My partner and I are trying to figure out how to buy a 2-4 unit property that doesn't need much in repairs using little money for a down payment. We would then rent it out. We both have full time jobs and are not experienced in construction. Managing a contractor may not be best (since this is our first deal) to make it simpler. We are in the pittsburgh area. Some options we are thinking about are...

FHA: this would be a personal loan and I would have to live in one of the units, and stay for at least a year (I think), I could put a small down payment (3.5%), in this case i would like to eventually move the property to an llc maybe after a certain amount of equity is reached, then refinance. We would then try to purchase and repeat but would have more funds.

Commercial loan through llc: we are considering this since we would eventually want to hold properties in an llc, but we would need 20% down which we don't have

Seller finance: we would need to find a willing seller and make a deal, maybe difficult to find

I am trying to get things into place for my first buy and hold property. A friend and I will be working together to find a duplex in the Pittsburgh area. At this point we are trying to find financing, an attorney, and a property. We have been talking about starting an llc to hold the property. I am trying to figure out how that will work. If we do use an llc, will we need a commercial loan? will we still need to personally guarantee the loan? will we be able to get a loan? We don't have a lot to put down. If we don't go llc, we could use fha and potentially save money and headache on creating the llc. Eventually our goal may be to own multiple properties so i think the llc is the way to go in the long run. Also possibly could transfer to an llc later... what do people think about using an llc for your first investment?

@Ian M. What has your experience been like with using an llc? In making my first investment should I use an llc? Am I going to need more down payment or have difficulty finding a commercial loan? Or should I try to get an FHA personal loan? In your opinion...