All Forum Posts by: Rudy Cecere

@Caleb Heimsoth That makes sense, to give you a better picture, this is going to be an owner occupant/house hack in my home town (Downtown Buffalo Area).  I am pretty familiar with the market having grown up here and rented for the past two years.  I think there a few up and coming areas considering the major development of a solar city/Tesla factory nearby and a massive medical campus that is opening up soon.  I am just worried about possibly putting too much money into a house and not getting it back.  

Hey everyone, this is my first post on BiggerPockets and I am big fan of the content!  Got started on my pre-qualification and have my real estate agent all lined up. Now I am hitting a roadblock which is analysis of a deal.  I was wondering what seasoned investors recommended for a first deal.  Should I dive in head first for a big reno in an up can coming area or should I play it safe with minor renovations and more of a turn key deal to get my feet wet and save up more money in a safe house hack.  I am 23 so I am willing to take a risk and have enough money saved up for renovations, but am not familiar with working with contractors or estimating repairs.  Any tips are helpful and thank you in advance!

Thank you everyone for your responses, it definitely helps reduce the amount of time I have to research to find the answer to a questions such as this!

As for everyone that is talking owner occupancy, how long do you have to live there?

I've heard several months, but does anyone know the official time?

Thank you in advance for your responses!!

Jed, thank you for your response that is an interesting point...but i thought that loans for multifamily houses (up to 4 units) are treated the same as a single family.

Does the down payment amount get reduced because it is owner occupied? 

Thank you very much for your quick responses! This website is absolutely amazing and I can tell tell I will be on here for a very long time to come.  As for your advise, I believe that you are both correct that I should have a cushion and account for the worst.

But at that amount it may take a lot longer for me to close on my first property than I expected. On the bright side it will give me more time to research the ins and outs of REI and create a complete business plan.

If anyone else has advise on how to start with less money I would love to hear it.

Hello, I am a 20 year old that is planning on acquiring my first rental property sometime this year.  At first I thought that saving up $5,000 would suffice, but after working at a real estate development company this summer as an intern I am worried that my target is too low.  

To back up a step, my goal is to buy a one family home at around $50,000 that is close to move in ready that would generate a couple hundred dollars of cash flow a month.  I thought that a 10% down payment would be enough, so I set my savings target at $5,000.  

Now I am thinking that I should save up extra money for closing costs such as inspection, lawyer fees, and a title search.  Also, minor renovations, possible vacancies, etc.

How many of these fees do I actually need to worry about and what are your recommendations for a good amount of money to save before I invest?

Thank you for your replies in advance!