All Forum Posts by: Michael Cavitolo

Hey Frankie! First property will come soon, tons of deals out there! As myself, I tend to get caught up in the Analysis Paralysis stage. 

Lets connect! 

I'm looking to purchase my first property and house-hack a 2-4 unit, owner occupied. Planning to live in one side for one year, then move out and rent out my side. 

One lender is offering 3.5% FHA and another is offering 5% Conventional w/ NO PMI. What are your thoughts on both programs? What is a better route to expanding a portfolio?

My theory is with no PMI, lower monthly payment so it might be easier to cashflow? The goal is to retire in 14 years off rental income. I'm 26 at the moment.

Thanks!

What are your thoughts on using the FHA 203k Loan for renovations?

Is there a catch? 

Hey all! I want to get some discussions and see from your POV!

If you started over today in Real Estate, and you’re a first time buyer in this currently economy with $40k saved up. 

Love to hear your thoughts! What game plan are you taking to be Financially Free?

BRRRR? FHA House Hack? SF Conventional? Subject to?

Hello All! 

What a stressful time it is to be a first time home buyer.. But, Maybe my Fiance' and I are overreacting.. We need some well needed advice! 

Our main goal long term is to have investment properties that cashflow enough for us to retire in the next 10 years. We're both 26 at the moment. We live in Staten Island, New York. We're pre approved for a SF with a price range of $450,000 and under, If we go Multi Family, we're approved for $600,000 and under. Both with the 3.5% FHA Loan. (Hoping we can get moved to conventional..)

We can't find anything remotely close to SF or MF where we live, so we're open to moving to New Jersey while still working on Staten Island. If we go MF, not very good neighborhoods and property needs a good amount of work. If we go SF, then we can find one in a nice area that needs some work and renovate it. 

Here's my issue.. I just don't want to make the wrong decision. I feel like this with market its going to be hard to find a SF that will cash flow if we live in it for 2 years and then decide to rent it out, along with MF. 

I have my fathers pension which will be available to me at the end of the year, should I wait then and get something bigger? 

If we want to strive for this 10 year goal? Is SF doable? Or is MF better? Do you recommend the BRRR? What would you do in a market like this?

Thank you all so much. Just stressful!! 

@Michael Junior thank you for the response! I feel like it’ll be tough to find a good deal on a duplex on Staten Island because everything is so expensive… unless we go to Jersey, but bad areas at the price range.. 

Do you recommend single family homes to start? 

Hello All! 

My Fiancé and I came across this property in Staten Island, New York, where we lived for the last 26 years. We’re looking to buy a duplex for our first home, and house hack it, I believe it’s a great way to get into the investment game. We’re trying to analyze the numbers, and we need some help to determine if this is a good deal.. 

Asking Price : $599,999 

Days on market : 50 

Duplex : 2br 1ba & 1br 1ba 

The 2Br 1Ba is currently rented for $1170… Way under market value, agent said it should be $1800+. The 1Br 1Ba is rented for $1100, agent said it should be $1300+. If we get this property, we’d take over the 1Br 1Ba. 

We're pre-approved for $600,000 on a duplex, 3.5% down, FHA, 5.25% Interest rate, 30 year term. If we get this duplex, our payments would be around $4200, everything included.(Property taxes, PMI, etc). We'd be looking at around $30k down, with closing costs.

If we have a tenant in the 2br 1Ba for $1800/Mo, we'd be coming out of pocket of $2500 for the rest of the mortgage. We fear that when we move out in a 1.5 year from then, that the tenants will not be covering the full mortgage from both units, we'd have to come out of pocket still most likely. Our goal is to get another property and use the FHA loan again, while switching the current one to conventional, hoping there's equity. We have considered jersey, but the areas aren't quite good for the $600k price point for multi-family.

Are we better off just going single family? Thoughts… We just want to make the right first move… Thank you. 

@Craig Clinton Thank you for the feedback! Would you recommend going for a duplex and house hacking in this market over a single family home? Or does it come down to the numbers at the end of the day? We'd be putting down 3.5% using FHA!

@Nick Thomas Staten Island or New Jersey is where I need to be cause of work! I always just thought going with a duplex over SF as your first property was always better! 

 This was VERY helpful! Thank you! We’re concerned with not being being approved for something in the cap! But spoke to the lender, if we can rent out one side for around $1800/Mo, we can approve for $600k or less.