All Forum Posts by: Ronald Russell

@Kelly Claiborne

Initially it was money. Now I pretty much got the green light for pre-approval to buy my first small Multifamily and the anxiety is kicking big time. I feel like I have forgotten everything I have learned and read about over last few years. Trying to learn how to determine the ARV of 3-4 unit Multifamily properties and practice analyzing them right now. I just want to make sure I keep moving forward and don't stop.

@Jonathan Lyford thanks for your advice.

I think by the end of the year I should be able to have debt (medical bills), emergency fund and most of a down payment saved up. (Depending on % of down payment I have to come up with.)

I agree on not wanting to change my current situation with primary residence especially since I pay 0% interest. I was just hoping to be able to get some cash to invest with. Wanted to weigh all my options.

Thanks.

@Joe P. Thank you for your reply.

We have already implemented a budget and are working on our credit as well and planned on strengthening both our savings and credit before making any moves. Just didn’t realize I wouldn’t have as much available with a heloc if we were to finance our current home. I was hoping I would have access to the equity to be able to invest.

Also, we will be defining our goals and getting more specific with them including timelines to get to each.

My wife and I are looking to start our investing journey soon, but trying to decide what our particular starting strategy should be.

Currently, we live in a family owned house that we pay $1000 month with zero interest. We owe about $135k and house appraised for $190k. So in about 11 years the house will be payed off. (FYI we can’t rent out our current house until we either pay it off or get financing for it if we chose to.) Should we go ahead and finance the house now and get a heloc to have some capital to invest in properties, or take advantage of not having a mortgage with a lender and get a property? We only have a few thousand savings at moment (just got married). We make about $160k a year between us and credit situation is low 600’s at moment. Recovering from a layoff a couple years ago. Nothing bad on credit except medical bills. Only debt we have is student loans and one vehicle note. We plan to buy and hold single and multi family for cash flow.

What would you do? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

RJ

@Courtney Fricke where can I find the dates for the REI club meetings? Thought it was today, but it was yesterday. Thanks.

@Kelsy White I have read that once your LTV reaches 80% you can request the PMI be dropped. The lender is legally required to drop it at 78% LTV. I'm new to this so y'all seasoned investors correct me if I'm wrong. Being it's FHA the MIP can't be dropped in the early stages of the loan with a LTV of 90% or more. Here is a thread that can explain way better than I can and give you options like refinancing once you have 80% LTV to drop MIP.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/50/topics/110918-removing-pmi#p713558

@Jeffrey Allenczy A lot of missing details to be able to be accurate, but from experience with plumbing in the past if there isn’t water and sewer ran close to where you are wanting a bathroom and kitchen can be very expensive to have concrete cut up and slab dug under to tap in. Water isn’t too bad because you can run it through attic and drop it down the wall, but sewer is more challenging. Depending on where your sewer runs you may be able to dig along side of slab and just have a clean out installed, but it can be quite costly. Make sure you get more than one quote and get a licensed professional. Be mindful of your floor plan to minimize the cost of plumbing.

Thank you all! I will most definitely attend the event on then17th. I’m looking forward to meeting y’all.

Hello all! My name is RJ, and my soon to be wife is Jamie. A little about us. We are both from and grew up in Slidell, LA. Neither of us work in real estate. Her in health insurance, and I in oil and gas. We have 5 kids between us so we stay very busy. 

We are new to real estate investing and bigger pockets. I started an account here a couple years ago and right when I did life struck and had to put my plans on hold. Anyways, now things are back on track and I am gearing up to start in the coming year and wanted to just say hello and reach out to some local investors and real estate involved professionals. I have been buying books, online research, and anything else I can to better educate myself as well as getting back involved on this site. Would love to know of any REI clubs local to Slidell. Looking forward to hopefully meeting many of you.

Regards,

RJ & Jamie Russell

Hello all! I'm wondering if their are any local REI clubs around Slidell/ New Orleans area?

Thanks in advance!

Ronald "RJ" Russell