All Forum Posts by: Raven Reinmuth

Thanks Ben! How early do you recommend starting to talk to lenders before buying? I don't think I would be ready until May/June of next year.

Hi Nina, I will definitely have a savings buffer, good point. It's not as bad though with rent by the room as I doubt all the rooms would be vacant simultaneously but you never know. 

I just bought my first primary residence househack back in May, and would like to get ready to buy another in a year. The question I have is, what kinds of things should I do differently to prepare to buy a second primary residence?

My credit is going to be a lot better and I will be able to prove a more income which will be great. Will I just need to have a lease signed proving that my previous house is producing income so that I will be able to support a second mortgage payment? Or would the lender also need to see rents coming in? I just don't think with my market (Denver) and income (around $60k/year) that I could support two mortgage payments and would need to prove that the first property is supporting itself.

How do others pull this off, and is there something I am not thinking of that I should consider while preparing to buy my second property as a primary residence?

Thank you! Yes, the market is insane right now and Denver is a hot market, and I do not make a ton of money so capital was the main factor on going with a condo instead of a SFH.

Thank you! It was definitely the hardest part, I am already gearing down for the next one.

Nice! I am hoping to do 1 a year, are you doing primary residence loans if you are doing more than 1 a year? Also I have been thinking of doing STR but am not so familiar with it, are you doing that in Denver?

I personally would go for the 3 duplexes in Minneapolis because you live there and are local, they make more cashflow, and even if your plan is to buy & hold they very well may be worth more if you end up selling down the road. 

If you are not self managing then having more units just means that the risk is spread out more, 1 vacancy won't hurt your bottom line as much if it is 1/6th of your income vs. 1/2. The only upside to the one in New York in my opinion is that it may be a safer market for investing/appreciation in general. However, I am not super familiar with New York real estate.

Another thing to consider if you are concerned about more overhead is the general condition of the properties. If the 3 midwest properties are older and are going to need significantly more work and the NY one is brand new, that could be a factor. If they are in approximately the same condition, I would go with the 3 duplexes.

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment in Denver.

Purchase price: $260,000
Cash invested: $6,000

My first purchase, I am househacking and renting by the room plus did a lot of renovating. Plan to continue purchasing primary residences and househacking until I can get enough equity/cashflow to do bigger deals.

How did you add value to the deal?

Lots of reno

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Would probably hire out some reno work instead of trying to do it all myself next time around

Thanks for the response! I was referring to buy-and-hold. That is so interesting about the A-Class performing worse in a downturn than C-Class. Although it totally makes sense! Definitely going to give it a read.

I've always believed that buying in any market is good to do as long as you are finding good deals, because a good deal is a good deal no matter what the economy is doing. You shouldn't not buy just because it seems like we're at the top or nearing the top of the market. Does that ring true to you?