All Forum Posts by: Michael K Gallagher

@Corey Law My Wife and I are having a similar Dilema. We have a current FHA loan on our Duplex and are looking for our next property, but as your mentioned are working out the details on the financing. Our plan at the moment, and it is ever changing, is to concentrate on refinancing our current FHA loan into a conventional. Our logic there being that we will basically add the PMI to our cashflow, and it lets us apply for another Owner Occ loan if we need that tool to acquire the next one. So we are utilizing a combination of savings, and then appreciation on the property to get to the point where the 80% ARV conventional loan will pay off our current FHA. But thats the current plan, a lot also hinges on timing of our next property, and really how much work it is going to need.

@Braeden Henry fantastic to hear!  wish I had gotten an earlier start thats for sure!  I don't know of anyone off the top of my head but I'll for sure ask around.

@Shriram Sharma, I would second what @Zeke Liston said regarding OH, especially here in Columbus.  The company that flipped my duplex, Advent - RE can most certainly help with any needs or questions you have.  I know they currently have a Duplex they just finished, and they are working on a 5 plex, but I'm sure they have several other projects that might fit your needs.  

@J W S I currently invest here in Columbus on the East side in South of Main.  We have a Duplex that we house hack, and self manage, and have had 0 vacancy (*knocks on wooden desk*)for the first 2 years we've had it, and we had a tenant in there before our first mortgage payment was due.  

Columbus has been fantastic, as @Zeke Liston mentioned there is an insane amount of development and influx of both people and companies. In most of the numbers I've run, duplexes up to 4 units really seem to be the sweet spot for the city.  The prices of those types of buildings are still very reasonable, you can get conventional financing for them, and the mortgage and expenses are usually covered by half the units rent, so the rest of the units tend to be cash flow. I have not found too many single family properties in the burbs that will cashflow, I suspect its because the competition in the good school districts for single family is absolutely nuts at the moment, so you end up bidding against a family that wants there kids in the nice schools and will pay 20K-30K over asking.   

My agent @Rene Lanthron did a fantastic job finding us our investment property, and she actually used to be a property manager so she was a great resource in helping us set up our systems and documents.

Feel free to reach out!  I would be more than happy to give more specifics or talk numbers if you are interested.         

@Daniel Genzer For that price range I think some of the only areas left in the city you could get a decent deal would be the Hilltop, or west Franklinton and maybe some areas of Mount Vernon. Hilltop though still has some properties available on the Franklin county land bank which if you are going to be an owner occupant, they essentially give them away (not literally but thats the easiest way to get a land bank property). My wife and I currently live in a house hacked duplex in South of Main on the East side. Thats another fantastic area to get in now, but I'm not sure if anything is in that ARV range, but for appreciation it is still worth the look. I would be more than happy to talk specifics or even show you around those areas if you aren't familiar. My agent @Rene Lanthron did a fantastic job finding us our property so could be worth reaching out to her also to set up an MLS alert.

@Alexandra Hughes Pailet where would pro members register?  Having trouble finding a link, even google is letting me down.  

@Joseph Cacciapaglia I would have to whole heartedly agree.  

@Courtney James If I were in your shoes especially in a production based business like wholesaling I would probably get more value and more return for the efforts and money by investing in a system or technology of some kind.  I currently use Monday.com extensively in my "day job" as a consultant and it has some promise for real estate applications.  I have not done any wholesaling myself, but from what I understand it is very process and sales heavy, and anything you can automate or make into a funnel will certainly help.  And try to look for the "root" of the issues that are preventing you from being at the sale you want to be.  Do you need more leads? do you need more closings? are you losing deals because of inefficiencies in your processes?  Thats where I would spend my time and money...   

@Brian G. The house hack dropped the cost of living by about $400 a month. We are hopeful to see that drop further closer to $700 after a refi out of the FHA loan.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $318,000
Cash invested: $12,000

First investment adventure. Currently house hacking our first investment. 2 bed, 1.5 bath per side, off street parking, purchased it already flipped. Truth be told it wasn't the most impressive deal as far as cash flow goes but it allowed my wife and I to drop our living expenses dramatically. That money is now being re-allocated into our investment account for our next deal!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

My wife and I made the choice to start investing in real estate and this first duplex was a simple easy way to drop our living expenses to start saving for bigger better deals.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

we found it on MLS, the negotiation was fairly straight forward. Went back and forth a couple of times, we were the backup offer however.

How did you finance this deal?

We did a 3.5% down owner occupied FHA loan. Currently we are saving to re-fi out of the FHA into a conventional loan so that we can get rid of the PMI.

How did you add value to the deal?

it was ready to go when we moved in. totally gutted and re-done by a flipper before us. Truth be told the craftsmanship on a lot of the house after being in it for a while is lacking, however, I feel that it is at least teaching me things to look for in the future.

What was the outcome?

My wife and I currently still live here, and love it. We are in the middle of saving for our next down payment and looking for another deal, be it a single family or multi family.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

FHA loans are great to get into your first property or house hack! But there are a ton of hoops to jump through really over the dumbest stuff. So be ready for some extra BS.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Our realtor is the best! Rene Lanthron at Keller Williams Columbus.