All Forum Posts by: Parker Jackson

@Bill Goodland

Obviously you’ve never studied at a respectable business school. As a student in one of the top ranked accounting schools in the nation, I learn more in a matter of months than most do in years. My degree is totally worth every cent I’m paying for it. I agree that the internet can provide tons of awesome free resources, but there is a reason that employers pay more for a degree. You’d be plain ignorant to think otherwise.

As a general comment, I agree with those who say you can do both. No one said you can either take out student loans or not go to school. I know that the real estate world doesn’t generally take advice from Dave Ramsey, but I totally agree with his stance on student loans. It’s much smarter to get grants and work a ton to avoid debt. Get the degree, but don’t over pay and don’t go in to debt. It’s that simple. If you think that’s impossible or you’re not willing to try, then you obviously don’t have the tenacity to be successful in real estate either...

Hi everyone! I've been looking into some properties that make sense numbers wise. However, they all have monthly HOA fees associated with them. I have looked up a few things about these fees, but I still don't totally understand them. The numbers would all make sense and it would be a great deal if I could eliminate all the HOA fees.

Does anyone have any experience with HOA fees that they'd be willing to share? Is there a legal way to eliminate the fees or do they just come with certain homes? I'd love any feedback or experiences that you have! Thanks so much!

@Cynthia Elder

I agree with what has already been said here! I would definitely rerun some of the numbers with those assumptions in mind. That being said, is there a reason that you’re only amortizing this for 20 years? If you are getting a conventional loan then a 30 year mortgage may help raise your monthly cash flow.

@Mark M. Hall

Thanks for the tip! That is really helpful and good to know. Where are you from Mark? Do you know if it's possible to refinance after getting 20% equity into the home on an FHA in order to avoid the PMI going forward?

Thanks again!

Hello everyone! My name is Parker Jackson and I’m a relatively new member here on Bigger Pockets. Although I’ve been on BP for several months, I haven’t taken the time to introduce myself. Recently I decided that it was time to start asking questions and making connections.

I've been doing a lot of research over the course of the past 6 months and recently went Pro in order to gain unlimited access to BP calculators and past webinars. My wife and I are excited to enter the world of real estate investing and we can't wait to get started. I am still a student in the Provo/Orem area and we are looking to try to house hack while I am still in school. We don't have a ton of capital available and are looking to get an FHA loan on a property when we find one that makes sense for us.

That being said, we haven’t been able to find anything that would come even remotely close to cash flowing in Utah county (especially around Orem and Provo). I know that the market is pretty hot right now, but I’m not sure what we should do. Does anyone have any advice for finding good deals in a crazy market? Should we wait for the market to to go down before we invest?

I’d love to hear your feedback! Thanks a lot!