All Forum Posts by: Randy Stout

I think I knew the answer before posting, but I wanted the reassurance from the members. I'm saving now for a down payment for a house hack. I think, after that, I will be looking for investments in a different market than Austin, TX. I live in Austin, but I work in Killeen, TX. I think there are good investment potentials there. It is a military town that seems to be expanding. After I have a house hack, I should be able to save faster and be able to buy a multi-family in that area. Is there anybody that knows about the market in Killeen/Harker Heights/Fort Hood area?

I would assume there are generally limitations to this type of thing dependant on how much money a person makes in their job. Being above $125k, I would assume programs wouldn't help me. I'm still most likely going to go with an FHA loan as a first time home buyer, but are there other programs specifically to look into and how would I find those?

 I have always been interested in investing but it was more of an idea that I'd do it later "when I had money". But I've started reading a lot more than I used to and I heard about the BP podcasts from a friend and starting listening to them on my rides to work. Eventually, that just lead me to think that I could eventually quit my job and work for myself, which is highly appealing. I like my job, but I see pharmacists that are working in their 60's and 70's, and the thought of that horrifies me. Then, I recently read "Set for Life" and have started heavily budgeting myself with the big money holes in my life (rent, car payment, groceries, alcohol/drinking) and seeing that I will be saving around 1500/month woke me up to the fact that I need to be investing now, not later, so that compound interest will work in my favor. There have been a lot of shifts in my thinking lately and I would like to be able to quit my job if I want to by the time I'm 45. That's my goal, now. 

Hello,

Been reading a lot of RE books, listening to more BP podcasts (on show 101 currently) and looking at what my next steps should be. I wanted to pay down my student loan, and that was my primary goal. When I graduated, I had 180k in student loan. Luckily, it was for a degree in which I make about 150k currently and have my balance down to about 65k. I had not been financially driven until recently, just being happy with making decent money and living with the Jones's (living in luxury apartment, buying a nice car, eating out a lot, partying every weekend). I recently read "Set For Life" and started to make my budget and with moving into a friends apartment, downgrading my car, making my own food for the week and taking steps to cut down on my "party" bills, I will be able to save an additional $1500 per month. I'm curious as to what others think is the better play: Pay down my loans with the additional cash or forgo that to start saving for a down payment on purchasing a primary residence (which I plan to house hack with either roommates in a SFR or similar with a duplex). I refinanced my student loan down to a fixed 4.3% and my cheaper rent with roommates will be $600 + split utilities (down from $1200!). Before researching in Bigger Pockets and reading my sole goal was to pay down my student loans, but now I'm starting to think that it would make much better sense to just use the money I would have paid down on my loan (20-30k/year) and use that to get into the house hack. My logic now is that if I can get the house hack going with a property in which I would pay less than my current rent, then that makes the most sense. But on the other hand, getting equity in the property I purchase makes more sense either way. Is there anything I'm not thinking about or how should I go about analyzing properties?

So, I live currently in 78704 in Austin, and obviously the competition is pretty crazy here as well as the price of properties. I have just done some minor searching in multifamily properties and see nothing that would be appropriate for me ($1million+ for multi family properties). I'm also considering using an FHA to purchase a primary residence and getting a 3 bedroom 2 bath place and just renting out to roommates. I don't see a lot of posts about this, even though, I think this would be an obvious idea for a first time home buyer. Would it be wise to do something like this, and then use the tenant screening tips in order to screen potential roommates. I would eventually want to rent the property out after having lived there long enough to satisfy the FHA loan. Is there any information on this website about this that I'm missing. Maybe I'm not searching for the correct keywords. Living with roommates would make the most sense to me given my lifestyle and wanting to stay in the same area that I'm currently living. Any advice or help is appreciated.

PS, I have found a few meetup groups for investors and real estate associations, and plan on attending those groups events in the coming weeks. 

Hello,

I'm another new face to the game. I'm currently trying to read as many RE books, listen to podcasts, read blog posts, going to local REIA meetings and become Real Estate Literate. At the same time, I'm relatively new to Austin, TX having moved from Maryland, so the whole area is new to me. This is a local question as well as more of a general question. When starting out, not really knowing the area, how does one evaluate what would be good areas/neighborhoods to start looking for opportunities to analyze?

My goal currently is in paying down my student loan debt as quickly as possible, as that is still around $100k. Should be able to be gone in 3 years, or may be able to refinance in a year or two to free up some investing capital. After that, my first ideal property would be a multifamily, 2-4 units, that I could live in while building up more capital for a next investment using a similar strategy. 

I appreciate any feedback.

-Randy