All Forum Posts by: Robert Harlacher

Hi Harrison, congrats on your first property. Do you have a SFR or multi? Any realtors that you could recommend for my search?

Hi Mark, Thanks.  I'm actually about to buy another book. Lots to learn.  If I may ask,  what areas of CT do you invest in? I'm trying to get my first property locally and from there, branching out other parts of CT would be something to consider

Hi BP Members,

I've been a lurker on here for about a month now and officially became a member a few days ago. My name is Rob and I'm 34 years old living in Danbury, CT.  I started researching the idea of using rental property as an investment, and a place to live temp, and stumbled onto this site. I was both shocked and excited to see so many people discussing the same things that have been bouncing around in my head for awhile.

I don't have any experience but I do have the will and dedication to learn everything I possibly can about this business and how to get started.  Currently I'm reading 'The Book on Rental Property Investing' and plan on picking up more books.  I've also been listening to the podcasts on here as  much as I can. 

My plan is to start with a FHA loan in a multi-family property that I can live in one and rent out the other and hopefully have the tenant pay for most, if not all, of the mortgage so I can continue to save money and acquire more buy and hold properties. The main hurdle I have at this moment is funds so having a 3.5 down payment or less would be what I need. Knowing this, I've been saving and educating myself in the mean time.

The idea of building exponential growth through real estate investing is real exciting to me and I can't wait to get started.  I feel like I just need to get passed that hurdle and into the first property to get the ball rolling.

Not having much luck on the MLS sites searching for multi-family properties in the Danbury or surrounding area so if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I look forward to connecting and networking with others within the BP community so I can learn as much as I can and hit the ground running. 

Thanks,

Rob

Multi-families is what I was thinking about most because of that ability to have the tenants pay most, if not all, of the mortgage payment.  My next book will probably be 'Managing Rental Properties' just to understand what that entails. 

Not to say that I would be oppose to SFR where I would live for a year, fix and then rent but that doesn't help me save much if I have to cover the mortgage on my own.

That would be much appreciated.  I'm looking to gain as much knowledge as possible.

I could probably manage the 3.5 down but I'm also going to look into those assistance programs. 

See, I'm just starting out with educating myself and reading books on real estate investment and I'm really excited to get into this . However,  I'm low on the funds to jump right in and I feel all I need is to get into one property to get the ball rolling and start collecting the cash flow so I can acquire another one. 

I see a lot of people recommending 'house hacking' in a duplex or triplex which is what I had in mind and anything in my reach financially will probably need some rehab done I'm assuming which costs money. 

I'm reading 'The Book on Rental Property Investing' which is helping me realize all the moving parts to acquiring property so I was wondering if anyone in the local area would have some advice or opinions on how to they started out and what steps I should be taking; property searching, mortgage brokers, lenders etc. 

I currently have about 15k saved up and adding to that every month. I'd prefer to stay within Fairfield county but I'm also open to expanding the search because I really want to get started. 

Would you also have any suggestions on where/how to find multi-families properties in the area?  I've been looking on the sites like Realtor.com and Zillow but I haven't seen many listed. 

No PMI sounds nice. Correct me if I'm wrong but a CHFA would be the same as an FHA where I would need 3.5% down and have to live in the residence for one year before moving out?

That's great information Kurt.  I'm just starting my journey on real estate investing and been educating myself as much as possible.  I live in Danbury, Ct and started looking into getting a multi-family that I can live in one unit and rent the other out.  

Financing is the biggest hurdle at this point being my first property so I've been looking for possible options with low or no money down and haven't heard of the programs you mentioned so I'm glad I stumbled across this.  

Can you tell me what the difference is between the CHFA and HDF Loans?

My goal is too start with the first property and then acquire another multi-family in a year or two and repeat the same process of living in one and renting the other.  That way I'll have the first property fully rented and I can continue to go up from there.  Would a plan like that work with either of your suggestions?