All Forum Posts by: Sam G.

@Ned Carey- I'm starting to think the same thing. I'm going to hold out for a 3-4 unit place that will give me some positive cash flow even with me living in one of the units. Thanks for heads up!

@Joe Norman- That sounds like good advice. I'll do some exploring around Baltimore and try to widen my search for first houses.

@James A.- I was just about to ask what the best investor meetups are in the Baltimore area. I went to one a few months ago that ended up just being a 3-hour sales pitch for the guy's wholesaling course, so that kind of turned me off of the whole REIA thing for a little bit. Any idea how I could get more information about some of the better meetups in Baltimore?

@Anthony Angotti- That's perfect! Exactly the sort of information I was looking for. I'll look into each of those options and see which one, if any, will work best for me.

@Joe Norman- I realize that I replied to you on both of my forum posts, so feel free to reply to either one and we can consolidate our conversation

@Sam Frank- You're making good points. The numbers thing is pretty much exactly what I'm trying to figure out. To answer some of your questions, the one unit is currently rented for $1200, but based on comps in the area, I think it would rent for $1400-1500 once renovated and updated. If I went the FHA/203K route, then I would live in the other unit, yes. I'm hesitant to do this however, because it would result in a negative cash flow since the income from the one unit wouldn't cover the entirety of my mortgage payment. Like you said though, it still could be a good first deal once I take into account the forced appreciation from the renovating and updating.

Also, if all goes according to plan, I will probably be looking for a good contractor in the near future for a home inspection and renovation. If this situation arises, would it be alright if I contacted you through BP to get more information about your company?

@Dave Visaya- Thanks for the welcome!

@Michael Lee- I wish you the best of luck with your recovery. You have given me a lot of good information and a lot for me to think about. I'm trying to learn more every day and get a better understanding of the ins and outs of real estate investing.

@Joe Norman- Right now I am looking in some of the neighborhoods around the Inner Harbor. Fells Point, Locust Point, Federal Hill, and Canton are the ones that I currently have my eyes on. I think that is largely because they are appeal to me personally as a young adult interested in that type of environment. What sort of areas or neighborhoods do you recommend I look into? I'm still very new to the Baltimore area and don't know all the good spots from the bad ones yet. 

Hi BP,

I have been reading real estate books, listening to the podcasts, reading the forums, and taking some online classes for a little while now and have decided that I should make a profile and start being more active. I am a young professional living in the Maryland/DC area with a 2017 goal of getting into real estate investing. My long-term goal would be to earn passive income through real estate to the point where I could cut back to part time at my job, while still having the financial freedom to travel and enjoy life. 

I'm currently looking at some of the nicer neighborhoods in Baltimore in hopes of finding my first multi-unit investment property. I actually posted about a potential property that I found in the "starting out" section of the forum. 

I would be interested to hear anyone else's experiences or paths to financial independence through real estate. I look forward to discussing real estate with you all and hope to work my way up to being a useful contributor on the forums. 

-Sam

Hi BP,

I have been reading the forums, listening to podcasts, and taking a few online real estate classes for a while now and feel like I have a decent handle on the basics. My goal for 2017 is to get my feet wet in real estate investing and I think I might have a potential property near where I live in Baltimore.

It's a duplex in a great area (Fells Point) that can use a reasonable amount of TLC. It's currently listed for $275,000 and one unit is being rented for $1200/mo. Based a price per square foot of recent comps in the same neighborhood, the ARV should be somewhere around $350,000 with a rental potential of $1400-$1500/mo. The realtor who I've been working with confirmed these numbers. I have not yet talked to a contractor about reno costs, but I think that $40,000 is a reasonable estimate.

The financing is what I'm getting hung up on. I realistically don't have access to the ~$95,000 for a 20% down payment plus renovation costs. At the same time though, if I go the 203K route, I will end up with a negative cash flow from renting only the one unit. 203K still makes more financial sense than renting, which I am currently doing, but I would really like to be cashflow positive on my first deal. 

Any suggestions or routes that I haven't considered? Or should I just keep saving and wait until I can take on a bigger down payment?

Thanks in advance!