All Forum Posts by: Jacob Shafer

This is a great list, thanks!

That was a great experience, as someone who just very recently got into this forum everyone made me feel very comfortable and MAN did I get some awesome information. There's just nothing quite like hearing these things from individuals, I would have really regretted missing out on this!

Stephen Salerno I've already put my name down that I'll be going, maybe we can talk about the first part of your answer tomorrow?

Marco Santarelli Thank you for answering my questions so thoroughly.
1. I will look into some real estate clubs in Dallas, as far as looking on the BP forums I guess I need to find the right sub-forum and put that I'm looking in the DFW area.
2. So I just had to do some research as to pre-approved vs. pre-qualified and I have a basic grasp of it. Pre-approved would mean they have already pulled my credit and whatever amount I have been approved for will pretty much be an exact estimate at the amount of money they will loan me. If I am pre-qualified they haven't really pulled any credit information and are just giving me a ballpark estimate of how much they think they could give me. So essentially I feel like this means step 1 instead of finding properties should be going to a lender and finding out what they can do for me, then go on to trying to find a property.
3. That's all I needed to know, thanks again!

Tom Goans
I'm currently enrolled full-time at my University and working full-time as well, as much as I would love to have a mentor or get some one on one time with an investor I just don't see that being an option until possibly next summer when my fiance graduates and is earning her steady income to support us both. I know this seems kind of backwards as I just said I want to devote as much time as I can to getting this, but I don't sleep much and I get a lot done in the 1 am-4 am time (I don't think there's many investors willing to give up those hours for me!). Now this isn't to say I'm not willing to work with anyone, I just feel like with my current work and school restraint it will be difficult to work with someone else who has a typical 9-5.
About the real estate listing agents, I will look into that more!

Brendan J.
Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking to understand.

Ryan Enos
The more and more I read into this and more advice I get, as a first investment this FHA loan is sounding more and more appealing. As much as I would like to be able to purchase something that I don't have to live in, I know how important just getting my first investment off the ground is and this just may be the easiest option for me (not to mention if I could work out a duplex where I ended up with free rent that would let me build up my cash reserves a lot more quickly). I'll probably be private messaging you again shortly!

Hello! I have been reading this forum with pretty much every spare moment I have had since this weekend when my fiance led me to it. I think I've become a little obsessed with this idea as I can really see the long term potential here, and I have been absolutely dying for a way out of my current job so I can focus wholly on school. With that being said, there are some (a lot of) questions I haven't been able to answer from the blogs, forum posts, and podcasts but here are the first few burning ones to me.

I have been leaning towards renting out homes as I feel the most comfortable with this aspect of real estate right now.

1. Is a realtor who I need to talk to first in order to start finding some properties? I have done a lot of looking around on Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, etc. but with as little experience as I have I just feel like I'd be taking a shot in the dark no matter what I picked - would a realtor help with this or is that just how it goes?

2. I understand I need to get a lender for the mortgage, and to get that I need to get some cash together in order to put up a down payment. I have a little cash saved up, but the majority of my family is very business oriented and I know if I came to them with a legitimate business plan I could probably get at least enough cash to make a decent down payment. What I don't understand is this: At what point do I go to find a lender for the mortgage? Or rather at what point do I need to have cash in my hand or a loan set up on deck? After making an offer on a property? Before making an offer? Before going to even look at properties? I know this seems like a basic question, but I keep reading about people purchasing these homes with investor's money but I don't read about at which point both parties are locked into the deal and money actually exchanges hands.

3. After buying my first property and assuming I have begun to turn a profit, how do I go about getting another loan for another property afterwards? Won't lenders be leery of giving more money to a person who is showing that they are already in debt? I don't feel like I could just go to a lender and be like "Yeah, trust me I'm making money on that other mortgage, give me some more money".

Thank you all in advance!

Thank you, Brandon Turner that article was actually the one that my fiance got me to read and got me interested in looking deeper into this website. I have watched a few of the Youtube videos but I haven't listened to any Podcasts just yet, I will have a bit more time to dedicate to my research this Wednesday so I will put that down to look up as well.

Mehran Kamari This is my first time hearing about a DTI ratio and just from quickly reading over some simple definitions of it I don't have much recurring monthly debt (less than $100) as I haven't graduated so I don't have to pay back any loans yet. As far as my credit score goes, when I checked it last year I don't remember the exact number but there was nothing detrimental on it just that I could be building up more credit.

My fiance and I will make it out there, we will be coming through pretty heavy traffic I imagine but will do our best to be on time.

@Mehran Kamari I have limited knowledge on all the options I have in front of me, but so far I have really liked the idea of house flipping or possibly purchasing a property to rent out. I will be rather busy with work over the next couple of days but I'm going to be doing some deeper digging to find out exactly what my current financial situation allows.