All Forum Posts by: Mark Smith

@Stuart Birdsong I do plan on living in one of the units...it's part of my game plan to finally leave the nest!

Only needing two months would be nice!  I know a home inspector, so hopefully I can save a little there.  I'll have to start saving my pennies for the rest of the fees.  Thank you for the information @Steve Vaughan!

Another new guy question!  I love to have a solid target in mind when I want to accomplish something, so I'm trying to get an idea of how much cash I will actually need to acquire my first property.  I know there are ways to make deals without having my own cash, however that route doesn't interest me at this point.

I'm planning to go the FHA route, so 3.5% of the purchase price down is obvious. I have heard that I should have (or that FHA requires?) a 6 month reserve? But basically, I'm just looking to have an idea of the cash I need for my first property. I don't think it really makes a difference, but I would be shooting for a 3-4 unit.

Can anyone list the expenses I can expect with some ballpark figures?  As always, thank you for your input!

Thank you for your input @Lacie Morris! I'm excited to be an investor in a small town, I'm trying to learn about the prices around here so I can better know what a good deal is. I'm anxious to buy my first property!

@Justin Schulte thank you for the great information! A great deal is exactly the reason I want to be in touch with the MLS, I don't want to miss anything! I would love to start building relationships so I definitely need to find a realtor I have confidence in.

I want to set up MLS notifications with a realtor so I can receive emails as new listings come up. Since my best friend's girlfriend is a realtor, I thought it was the perfect opportunity! When I asked her about it she said she could do it, but she only asked for my email address and price range. There has to be more criteria than that! For those of you that buy and hold, what sort of criteria do you use for MLS notifications?

Thank you!

Thank you for the advice everyone! I'm definitely looking forward to building a good relationship with a realtor, I think they will play an important role in the purchasing process.

Thank you for that great post @David S.!  I'm lucky to have my father who would be an amazing handyman; I can't think of a problem that my parents had in the 25 years I've been around that we've had to call a contractor for, except for roof replacement and having one wall taken out.  Using Saturday as a "work day" is a good idea.  It seems like a good way to sort of regroup and get a handle on everything.

@Rich Vogel that is very helpful! Thank you for the insight. I'm glad to hear your hard work is paying off, and I'm sure you're very excited to possibly quit your day job in the near future!

@Rich Vogel do you happen to be managing these properties while also holding a full time job?  Or do you do real estate full time?  I currently (and for the foreseeable future) work full time, so I want to see how others are managing their time.