All Forum Posts by: Samuel Leatherwood

Hello @Stone Denning! I am excited for you beginning your journey. You are definitely going to want to talk to a lender sooner rather than later. They are going to be able to tell you what you would currently qualify for and what sort of paperwork/debt paydown you would need to qualify for the price range you are interested in. 

Generally speaking, FHA loans are easier to qualify for since they are backed by the government. Once again, talk to a lender but as a business owner generally two years of P/L statements and tax returns are preferred to qualify your income and allow the lenders to determine the income side of housing expense ratio (HER). FHA loans typically require a HER of 31% or below if you were to calculate monthly PITI (principal+ interest+ taxes+ insurance+ mortgage insurance premium) divided by monthly gross income. Additionally, FHA loans typically require 43% or below for your total obligations ratio (TOR) which in addition to your housing expenses includes long-term debt payments such as a car loans or student loans. This total obligations number is also divided by gross monthly income. Finally, you will be able to add some of the anticipated rents from the investment property to your gross monthly income as well.

My advice: don't take on any more debt in the short-run, play around with those calculations to get a sense of where you stand, talk to a lender, and make sure your business accounting is being done properly (consider working with a CPA if you do not already). 

Good luck and feel free to reach out anytime!

The retirement home sounds like a win to me @ButchLisa Wofford. Also, very familiar with the Lake Nona area and that has been a good market for appreciation. Lots of plans still in the works out there and long-term appreciation will likely continue. Keep it up!

I am excited for you beginning your RE journey @Thomas Casella. Keep on learning and remember that a large chunk of the learning is going to occur after your make your first move! 

Reach out anytime.

Welcome to the BP community! Good luck in the Philadelphia market. I lived there for about a year and saw lots of opportunities north of center city. I’m down in Orlando now, but feel free to reach out anytime. 

Hello, @Krystie Buena! Pine Hills can be a bit of a block by block situation. It is a bit of a speculative market but there are some trends that could produce good appreciation over the long run. As a fix and flip, however, I would make sure you have plenty of equity built in on the ARV to protect your investment. @Shawn McCormick had some good advice!

Reach out anytime with questions. 

Welcome to the forums, Trevor. It sounds like you are making a lot of the right moves and coming into this with a good mindset. If you want to chat, hit me up anytime!

Welcome to the Forum, Vince! Also curious if you are looking to invest in Florida, Maryland, or somewhere else. As others have suggested, certain areas of Florida, such as S. Florida, may not have the largest cap rates yet will probably outperform similar assets in higher cash flow markets with regard to appreciation. Migration and job data have me bullish on many cities in FL over the next 5-10 years. 

Good luck @Vince Biegel!

You are taking all the right first steps, Josiah. 

Keep it up!

Hello @Cornelia Cornils. What are your goals with regard to building a portfolio in Central FL? More broadly, what are your long-term goals for your real estate portfolio? What sort of investment are you looking into (STR, MTR, LTR)? Please provide more info so we can provide more guidance!

I just ran a search on Kissimmee and Orlando and there are currently 14 multi-family properties on market. Like @Tyler Gibson and @Shawn McCormick said, most of them are rather pricey as an as-in investment, however, there are a few potentially promising deals on market.