All Forum Posts by: Shawn S.

We are just getting our first place, it is quite a bit less expensive than the one you are getting. My thinking was I wanted to start a bit smaller. If you can get the rent on the higher side of your estimates, the deal may be worth considering, but if it ends up being the lower side I can't see any way it makes sense at all, especially when you start adding in maint costs and vacancy rates.

K. Marie PoeThanks ladies, Dawn A. and @

I was told by my mortgage banker that the funds only need to be in the bank for 2 months. Hearing your thoughts though I want to double check the accuracy of that statement.

Dawn A. When you say small do you think not enough to hurt me down the road when getting loans? Now the only question would be whether to secure the funding first or find the properties first. I think it only would take about 10 days to get the funds from the call I made this morning. The deadline is Sept 15, so I have a bit of time to work with.

Dawn A. I'm only about 1.5 hours from Milwaukee. We get over there from time to time.

Brandon Turner I actually grew up in KC, so I'm a huge Chiefs fan. Have had NFL Sunday Ticket for years to make sure I don't miss anything. My wife is from Minnesota though, and her family is all there. They are all Vikings fans. Heading over that way in 2 weeks for the in-laws 40th. We always have fun when the two teams play. I've made sure my girls wear red however. "Train up a child" and all that:) My degree is Social Science Education, so qualified to teach History, etc. But my most recent classroom experience is actually in teaching PE, which helps to stay active. Where in MN are you from?

Thanks for welcoming me.

So we are in the process of closing on our first SFH. All figures seem to indicate that we will have just slightly under $200.00 per month in cash flow after all expenses. We also have $800.00 per month that used to go into our Roth IRA's that we are now using to acquire down payment money. So I'm looking at close to a year if we only get down payment money from these sources.

I got an offer in the mail yesterday and I'm sure others here saw it as well, but Discover is willing to loan me up to 25k at 9 percent interest. Up to 15k at 8 percent interest. I could use that money in the coming months on 2-3 more properties in the price range we are looking at. I just wondered what advice I could get concerning considering this option. 25k would be payments at right around $400.00 per month for 6 years I believe it was. I have not applied for it yet, but believe I could get the best rates with credit scores just under 800 and my wife's is even a bit higher. What would be the downsides to doing this? Would I take a credit score hit by taking that sort of loan?

Thanks,
Shawn

Greetings Bigger Pockets Community,

I have been reading the forums and all other info for the past 6 weeks or so while at the same time reading all the books I could find on real estate investing. It has been a dream of mine for quite some time, but only recently have my wife and I been able to put away enough money for the down payment on our first investment property. Inspections are complete and now we are waiting for closing. We are pretty excited. My wife and I also have twin 10 year old girls. They are amazing and I feel truly blessed. I am a teacher in Wisconsin. Thankfully I love my job and plan to do it until retirement, but I see real estate investing as a great way to have the lifestyle we want while still allowing me to do what I love to do.

Shawn