Hey Guys!
My name is Ryan and i'm a 30 year old software engineer out of Northern NJ. I've been reading all about real estate investing for about a year while saving up as much capital as I can. I've chosen a strategy and have been practicing deal analysis for a few months. My main concern is the financial part. I have managed to put away 50k in cash. I'm worried that isn't enough for my market and am looking for some help from people in my area!
I'm interested in small multi-family properties in which I could house hack for a year or two. I know I could get an FHA loan which would make my 50k more than enough to close on a typical 500k property (that seems to be about the average for a small multi in my area), but I have also learned that due to the high level of competition, sellers don't typically like working with FHA buyers due to the high standards and inspections that come with it. This leaves me to think that i'll need to go the traditional 20% loan route, which is almost double the down payment that I currently have. 20% on the average multi around here is approx. 100k.
I also understand that i'll need some money for reno as well. I'm not planning on buying a forclosure or something in bad shape. But I have learned that I need to buy something with a small bit of touchup work in order to help get a better deal. I was planning on having about 20k for this. Is 20k, on average, enough to rehab multi family properties in NJ? I have no experience with rehab costs so i'm looking for some members experience on this one :). All in, this would put my costs at about 70k. Should I wit until i put away 20k more? Or go in for it now?
Any help would be greatly appreciated guys!
Thanks!!
