All Forum Posts by: Nathaniel Merriman

@Quinton Slay  I hear you man, I was in a similar situation to you not too long ago, things ended and I ended up meeting someone who gets the point of investing and is an entrepreneur herself (its a whole lot easier).  You can be comfortable very quickly house hacking with little to no debt.  The only things I have now are the mortgage, my car (payoff with a cash out refi), and a couple 0% interest things from the renovation.  Don't let anyone tell you that you have to wait to be comfortable, you get to define whats comfortable for you.  You're young and can set yourself up nicely instead of trying to dig yourself out of a mountain of debt by investing later in life.  

@Kevin Baird I bought a two family in Newport last year. It took quite a bit of looking and analyzing to pull the trigger.  If you're interested in my experience and thoughts on the area feel free to send me a PM.  

@Andrew Pettit,  good luck on the search! Prices here seem to be climbing steadily especially for single families.  What areas are you looking in for purchase? Are you looking for Multi's or Single families?

@Ben Leybovich  I cant agree more.  The why is so important!

@Ben Leybovich I'm a little confused as to what you are getting at.  Are you suggesting we should be more concerned with numbers when giving advice?  I'd hate to think I'm steering people wrong with my two cents about the RI market.  

@Quinton Slay St. Louis sounds like deals are pretty easy to come by.  Rhode Island is pretty difficult to find anything turn key, pretty much any property is going to need work for the numbers to work.  

Where are you going to be in RI? There is a first time home buyer credit in providence and the surrounding area which gives you a 7k ish loan for a down payment that is forgiven after 2 years I think. 

Congratulations!  I would suggest giving Allstate a try.  I'm at 1700 ish for 400k coverage and a 5% hurricane deductible.  Everyone else was around 2800 to 3500 with a lower hurricane deductible.  My feeling is that hurricane coverage is totally blown out of proportion in RI, worst storm in recent history did almost no damage even to houses ON the coast.  My house made it through the hurricane of 39  so i feel like its pretty damn solid.  I'm more concerned about cash flow now so when i end up leaving and it is no longer owner occupied i'll consider trying for a lower hurricane deductible.  

@Matt Romano  I was able to find a solid house hack in Newport, paid 314k for a run down 2 family (6 bed 2 bath) w/ 3.5% down  to give me the cash to renovate one unit immediately.  House was appraised at 334k  and with the currently unfinished upgrades is worth ~370k all said and done I should be around 420k.  I'm getting $1700 /mo and the only utility i pay for the whole house is water.  With tax, insurance, mortgage insurance and water I'm paying 2100/mo. I've got myself a nicer place than i was paying 1050 for renting for 400/mo and the additional cash every month goes towards improvements which there are plenty left to do.  And one suggestion if you're looking at places that need work, its much easier to get stuff done once you live there and all your tools are there and available all the time.  

With a 2 family you'll be hard pressed to cash flow but you also have to look at what housing expense you're ditching to get there.  I'm able to put more of my cash each month to work (into the house) and will be able to access again once i refi next year.  

I looked at a couple places with garages but they always seemed to drive up the values more than they are worth to renters or renting individually.  It seems like in newport (and I'm guessing bristol is similar) that they're worth a lot to people too much money who drive up the property values here. That being said next owner occupied house hack I'm looking for a garage! I'm tired of my car getting dinged and dirty. 

@Tommy Barone there are deals to be had, you need to look hard.  A friend of mine just bought 2 foreclosures for mid hundreds in narragansett, put 40k ish into them and has them rented at a small positive cash flow but the values are near 300k for both of them.  I just got my house hack in newport 300k for a 2000sqft 2 family that has me at about -400 cash flow per month including utilities.  I had to renovate and it still needs some more work but all told it should be around $500 positive a month including maintenance and vacancy when I'm out.  and Im already near 20% ltv so i may be refinancing in the fall.  

Both of us had to JUMP on these deals when they came around.  You need to be confident with the numbers and be able to analyze quickly and put in an offer.  

Hi @Jay Levy  I've got a couple recommendations if you're interested.  Just shoot me a private message and I can give you some direct numbers for quite a few guys depending on the type of reno you want to do.