All Forum Posts by: Stephen Watt

@Andrew Postell, I like your frugal approach. As someone who's never been to a club meeting, what are some of the benefits you've seen from clubs that charge?

@Bruce May, I also like your "sampler" approach. With your experience in NSDREI and different clubs around SD, what would you say are the strengths of NSDREI relative to other groups?

Hi @Account Closed!

With your suggestion of taking a loan from a 401k for a down payment, aren't there taxes that will have to be paid? Since you're leveraging the 401k funds before retirement, I would think there are significant tax penalties.

I'm curious to hear about how you repaid your 401k and how much you were taxed on the loan.

Regards,
Steve

There's no shortage of experienced investors telling newbies to join your local REI club, for many good reasons. I'm one of those newbies, and I find myself with multiple REI associations close by (4 in the San Diego area, to be exact).

With most REI clubs charging monthly dues, how do you determine which club is worth getting involved in? One option is to just pick a club and dive right in. But are there things to look for (or look out for) before getting involved with your local club?

I'd love to hear about your experiences with various REI associations. What makes an investment group exceptional?

-SWatt

Hi @Andrew Fowler,

We are in a similar situation, and I'll be following this thread. I'm graduating this month (May 2017) with $65k+ in student loans and looking to get into REI.

I found a helpful article on this topic here. The author emphasizes the importance of your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) when it comes to getting approved for a mortgage. She claims that most lenders want potential homeowners to have a DTI of 36% or less. So your mortgage payment, student loan payments, and any other debts should cost at most 36% of your income. Now, I'm not sure how accurate this claim is, or how it would differ for an FHA loan. It would be good to hear from someone in the lending business here.

If your loan consolidation can get you lower monthly payments, this should improve your DTI and potentially make you more attractive to lenders. If your DTI is already low enough, you might consider saving for REI depending on your comfort level, as @Adrien C. mentioned.

You might also consider saving any sign-on bonus you get from your W2 job for a down payment. That's what I'm planning to do, and it should give me several thousand in the bank to start.

Good luck and keep us updated!

SWatt