All Forum Posts by: Monique Sison

@Jaysen Medhurst this is so helpful, thank you!

I was wondering.. for CapEx, since it is a condo and has HOA fees that include maintenance of the exterior of the building, would you consider budgeting a little less for this?

I think I will pass on this property and continue to live at my parents house and save. Although it’s a good deal and qualifies for BoA’s Home Grant Program ($7500 off non-recurring closing costs), I want to invest in something where I can at least break even.

Hello,

I'm deciding whether to make a move on a 2 bed, 2 bath condo located in Fullerton, CA. It's listed for $390,000 with HOA fees of $320/month and property tax is about $4000/year. I have the ability to make a 5-7% down payment..

It has 1 master with attached bath and a 2nd bedroom. It also has a dining room with a door that can be turned into a third bedroom. I plan to live in the dining room area and rent the master for $1200 and the bedroom for $1100 for a total of $2300 in rental income.

Trying to figure out what I should offer for the property in order for there to be positive cash flow. Please help!

It’s my first time searching for a house and getting pre-approved by a lender. I’m a newly graduated dentist and since I have $360k in student loans I don’t qualify with most lenders without a co-signer. I did get qualified in my own with Bank of America for their doctor loan but only on a single family home and not a duplex. From my understanding, banks view single family homes the same as small multi family. Is this not the case?

Also.. I live in Orange County, CA and want to house hack but the average price of a 3 bedroom 2 bath is $500-$600k which just wouldn’t cash flow positively if I rented out the other 2 rooms. I’m contemplating out-of-state investing, but I’m a brand new investor so I’m not sure if I should take on that challenge. Thoughts?

@Frank Geiger this is exactly what I was thinking. If I put my head down, give all my money to the loan servicer, and “sacrifice” like my family is suggesting.. I will end up with no wealth built and will have learned nothing about investing.

@Theresa Harris thanks for your response! I forgot to include an important piece of info regarding my loan payments! They are based on my income, so as my income increases, the payments increase. In addition to this, the total remaining balance on the loan will be forgiven after 25 years and taxed as income.

Also, yes it seems like I should have been saving more! But I didn’t discover real estate investing and Bigger Pockets until recently and before that I was making $5000/month payments for my student loans... (that’s where all my money was going 😆) now that I’ve gained some knowledge about leveraging debt, I am saving all that money that was previously going to my loans so I can make a downpayment on a single family home or maybe a duplex if I’m lucky!

@Natalie Kolodij yes, this is the direction I’m leaning towards! I would love to do a multi family for my first househack. I’m speaking with a lender right now that says they have a loan I would qualify for with my large student loan debt.

@Jason Turgeon wow, that was an amazing response! Thank you for taking the time to put that together. It really laid everything out in an easy to understand manner.

I agree with you about splitting the difference. I think that’s an excellent plan. Even though I would like to focus on real estate, the thought of the student loan balance growing does give me a bit of anxiety.

I am currently on the PAYE program which forgives the total remaining loan balance at the end of 20-25 years, however that forgiven balance is seen as income and I would be required to pay taxes on it. So assuming my loan balance grows to $600k and I’m taxed at the highest tax bracket, I would owe about $300k in taxes that year. I don’t know that I would want to wait that long and then pay my tax bill in a lump sum.

Everything you suggested sounds great, thanks again for sharing your insight.

@Mindy Jensen thanks Mindy! I have to give that podcast a re-listen! I really would like to get started because I feel that now is the prime time for me to grow my wealth as opposed to throwing my whole income towards my debt and ending up with no wealth built after the debt is paid off in 10 years.

@Damaso Bautista thanks for the response! Right now I have a great income ($170k before taxes) and no liabilities since I live at home, I’m very lucky! So far in the past year, I’ve saved about $20k, but I recently started on a new repayment plan (PAYE) for my student loans that allows me to make $35/month payments so I can save even more aggressively. I’m trying to find a lender with a program for doctors, because you’re definitely right.. most lenders don’t love my debt to income ratio!

@Payton Reid thanks for your response! Good paying job, check, $5k for emergencies, check. Now all that’s left is the modest rental property and to find a lender who I can qualify with!