All Forum Posts by: Stephon Broughton

Hello!

I am from Ohio and will be down in Atlanta from 1/9/24-1/12/24 and was hoping to network with some real estate investors for lunch or a coffee (or at a project you might be working on). I currently reside in Ohio where I buy SFR rentals and do a couple flips a year. Ramping up this year but my wife and I ultimately plan to move to Georgia in 2027 (we already have a realtor for the curious).

We are coming down to get a feel for some neighborhoods we've been looking at moving too and don't really have too much planned so I thought it would be a great time to connect with some lenders, investors, contractors, and liked mind individuals while I'm there! Thanks!!

Originally posted by @Michael S.:

Goals are very good. However, you can adjust as your situation adjusts. Think about your longer-term goals. From what I've experienced in Toledo, you could pick up a house hack duplex for $30,000 (if you buy right). I'm closing one now at $31k. With and FHA loan as primary you'd need (3.5%) $1,050 down and about $4k in closing costs and fees. You could be into a house hack for $5k. In this scenario, the other unit would likely rent for $400-$500 a month. Total total PITI comes in around $280 per month. You can chalk up the change to maintenance, reserves, and Capex. Still, you could basically live for free and stack from there. The other bonus, the rental income form the other unit counts toward your qualification. If I could rewind my life to your age, I'd do a house hack, no question!

I rarely hear a story that ends well when it starts with "me and my girlfriend/boyfriend bought a (fill in the blank) together." There are happy endings of course (I just rarely hear them).

To revert back to my statement about adjusting goals... If you adjust to the house hack approach, you've accelerated your plan and most importantly you've taken action. Taking the action will change a lot of things.

Maybe the next move is to buy another duplex to house hack a second time, and put Moms in the unit you vacate. Now, you both cover your housing costs from the other unit.

You might even consider shooting for a 4 unit. Acquisition costs a little more, but you probably make money living in a unit.

What are you trying to accomplish through RE? Do these steps align with your ultimate goals?

 Thanks for the response everyone! I understand that girlfriends come and go, I've had my fair share of them but I've known this one for some years, any who I already know I should be putting everything in my own name. @Michael S. I was going to go the FHA route and buy a home <35k but my only concern was finding a lender willing to lend at such a low amount. Putting mom in a unit would be a great idea once I get a second property if she's up to it because then we could rent out her home in 43612 which is your standard 1200 sq ft 3 bd 2 ba which would rent for about $750 (Eventually $800 or more if I continue with my planned updates). This will cover her mortgage plus cash flow about $200+ and allow me to really get going from there. My ultimate goal in real estate is to focus on areas in 43612, 43613, 43608, 43606 (the 12 and 13 help me leverage the extra costs of the 08 and 06 neighborhoods and the 08/06 neighborhoods produce a higher cash flow but may have a high vacancy rate due to the type of tenants). Eventually, I may flip a house or two and sell if I feel it's not a long-term investment or I need money to buy another property. I'd also like to mention I may look into the east side of Toledo for properties once Promedica finalizes and build this new development for their employees. This could be a great opportunity if the development works as expected (some development plans don't go as planned and begins to tumble everything positive that was going to happen after it)

Originally posted by @Andrew Fidler:

@Stephon Broughton-

Hi Stephon, yeah I agree with the group here, if you have your girl move in with you- keep the title and financing in your own name. That way you can house-hack and girlfriend-hack depending on both market’s fluctuations! :)

If I was young and really wanted to get something going I’d go for the multi-family flavor as suggested

OR- I’d start myself in one of Toledo’s 3 bedroom 1 bathroom houses in as sketchy an area as I was comfortable in. 43608 has $15k houses all day long that rent for $700/mo. (Watch me have a hundred by 2020, they’re addictive)

If I was you I’d buy a basic house needing some work that I was capable of doing and negotiate a purchase for <$10k and push for seller financing so there was no loan application and no limit to the number you can get. 

Live in that house till it’s time and either buy a second close by and rent it or move into that one and rent your old one. (If I had my way I’d start in one, live in it till I found a great one I wanted to make my home and move into that one - the idea is to keep yourself centric to all the rentals and able to visit them in a 10 minute circle to check on them and poke late rent payers easily)

You do that and you will be independent wealthy in 5-10 years unless you have zero business acumen or people skills. 

I find deals in 43608 for locals all day long, it’s just dangerous for out of state buyers to blindly scoop up. If you have HVAC skills I have a 6 unit that could be bought 1 unit occupied and 5 1200sqft 2 bedroom units needing full rehab. The exterior is brick and the roof doesn’t leak. (Just plan on $50k in work inside if you hired it all out)

Hey Andrew, I thought about going that route just because it's easier finance wise if the home is in decent condition but my issue was having a major expense with them such as plumbing, lead paint, electrical, roofing issues, foundation problems, etc. I'm pretty handy and I can definitely do work with flooring, paint, cabinets, drywall, etc. I would just need an inspection by someone that really knows what they're doing because when my mom purchased her home a few years back it began falling apart (Plumbing issues a major one) and I felt the plumbing issues should've been caught before she purchased because it had to do with the plumbing under the sinks and how they weren't done correctly (thankful for my grandpa because these fixes could've been costly). How would I go about seller financing? Because I know there are many homes that are land bank properties or rei trying to liquidate assets or settle down/sell homes in their portfolio and just get rid of them. I may live in the rental until it's fixed up but I know that I have many options on where to live. My grandparent just paid their house off and they'll probably move in the next few months but I can convince them to sell to me (They'll probably just give it to me) and I can live in that while I fix one up or my dad just paid his house off and I'm welcome there but he wants to put the house in my name so I might take out a HELOC loan on that home (It's in 43608 so won't get too much) to help with costs of the rehab if need be . I'm still working out on how I want to do everything but It'll probably end up just me buying a property in 43608 and staying home to save money (she'll have to deal with it, besides mom doesn't think I'm ready to move out, ha funny her, it'll be a surprise to her when I have a rental) and try to get seller financing and hopefully have the rehab done in a month or two (may have to extend that timeline with my schedule due to lack of time, it's taken me two days to paint one wall and put up a bedroom door, looks great though). I'll keep in contact (I'm the one that came to your house I believe last August and we chatted a bit) and let you know how things are going and maybe before I buy you can walk the property with me for a second opinion and your expertise? Thank you!

Thanks for the responses!

Hello BP! I am currently a college student and I live at home in Toledo, Oh to save money from those heavy college expenses. I make decent money for my age (Around $30,000 earned income and $8,000 in school refund checks per year) and I've been wanting to get into real estate since I was 16. Well, I made a goal that I would save $15,000 this year and get started in early 2019 unless a deal came up I couldn't let go. Well, some things have changed. My initial plan was to get an FHA loan and either house-hack or rent it out and continue to live at home but now my girlfriend wants to move together and we agreed on late 2019 but then we moved it up to late 2018! This will throw me off course because now instead of saving for investing I'm finding myself saving to pay someone else to live. Now at home, I help my mom out a lot but I told her I'm going to have to scale back because I have these goals. She's fine with that but now that I have these expenses coming up I'm not sure what to do. I've talked to her and let her know that a smarter investment would be to buy a home rent out the basement or something. Nope, she feels we're not ready for that. I feel like if we lived in an investment property we could do it and handle the expenses with both of our income. Our household income together would be $55,000 per year plus an extra $10,000 in school refund checks because we both were fortunate enough to not have student loans. This is way more than we need to live because this is about $20,000 or more more than we lived off of last year because of promotions and pay raises at work.

My options: 

Buy a house (multi-family hopefully) before this goes down and force her to live with me because I would have this house?

Just rent for six months somewhere and try to find a house once the lease is up?

Push my plans back and wait for the market to crash and then invest?

Not move at all and continue with goals?

Leave the country and everyone in it? (This one is a joke)

I just would like to get some insights from people and what they would do in this situation. Any comments and advice help!

Thank you everyone for the replies!! I am sorry I haven't been active, I purchased a new phone and forgot to download the app. But as of right now I think my best options right now are staying at my current job (unless I find a higher paying job) as assistant manager for Picnics department for the Toledo Mud Hens. I currently am on track to making $12,000-$15,000 this year (that's a lot for a 17 year old turning 18) and I've don't nothing but save! I am going to buy a more reliable car since I have decided I will be continuing my education at Bowling Green State University majoring in Marketing. My goals are to work very hard this summer and then during school I will continue to work and hopefully have a mentor to give me the ins and outs of real estate and investing. I think with the knowledge I'd learn from someone who is experienced will go a long way! Once I feel I'm ready I will go for my real estate license and begin a journey! Hopefully I can get my license during my sophomore year of college and have some experience under my belt so that when I make some sales I will have some cash saved up for investment properties and rental properties. Plus real estate investing/licensed realtor will look good on a resume! But for right now I'm going to focus on school and find a mentor then save some money and begin my journey. My long term goals are somewhat large but hey they have to be large right? Right now I want to graduate college in Marketing, get a well paying job with my degree and then save for rental properties and flipping homes. Once I feel I am successful in that I want to potentially go back to school and get a MBA (Masters Degree) in Marketing but that's an if because if I'm successful enough I might just quit my Marketing job and do REI full time. Once I have made it that far I think I would be ready in commercial property or redevelopment with local officials. I don't plan on being a public official but I live in toledo and I want to see exponential growth like we see in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Dubai, Singapore and many other cities that are at a noticeable growth. Currently in Toledo, Ohio we have growth in the commercial sector which is great but in the residential side of things it's not reaching its potential in certain neighborhoods that were better before the 2008 crisis. I think Toledo needs more high paying jobs that reach more then what seems like the manufacturing boundaries we have. I see small tech companies and great advancements in health care jobs but there's not much on the financial sector and I think we need growth on our tech industry considering we have great people here. But I'm going off topic! Anyways, I think my goals and plans fit me and I'm ready to peruse them! Any thoughts or questions you guys have are welcomed and please give opinions and advice! A little knowledge or criticism never hurt anyone! Thank you!

By the way thank you all for the replies! I appreciate it

Originally posted by @John Thedford:

Education is never a bad thing!

 Of course knowledge is never a bad thing haha! I always find ways to expand my knowledge, especially on something that can potentially create wealth. I just was seeing if this knowledge will be useful, and in a timely manner. I don't believe in get rich quick schemes to often (some cases it works, but for the very few) and I don't expect to just make a sale a month after I get my real estate license, but I want to know is it worth getting before going to college? Is it a good investment before I find myself with $30,000 in college debt? I just want to make sure the investment in myself is a right decision.

Originally posted by @Nick C.:

What are you going to study in college? Why not get a degree in real estate if that's what you plan on doing? I don't know how it is in Ohio, but here in Florida if you major in real estate you can skip the pre and post licensing courses.

 Here in Ohio you must obtain a license at a 2 year university or community college or online, there is 120 hours of classes you must take and then you have to pass the final exam of course. But I plan on going to college for Marketing. So it fits in as you have to Market yourself as an agent. It'll be easier to get my license half way through college since I'll have more knowledge about the Market and the terminology used but real estate is something I want to learn before I start investing in real estate property which is something I plan on doing after I have settled comfortably in my career if all goes as planned. I could easily get a real estate license in a month. I'm willing to work hard but I'm not sure if it's going to affect my life in college as being busy because I'm not exactly sure it'll work going into the business part time. As I said my instructor has been doing it part time for 2 months and she is close to making her first sale and has two clients that are ready to buy a home, so for her part time is going well, but she also has also mentor so I'm not sure if I'll be able to have one to assist like she has.

Hello, so today I was talking to one of my instructor about real estate. She recently received her real estate license as a hobby and extra source of income as we all know educaters don't get paid much. To tell a little about me, I am a senior in high school and I have been accepted into a few colleges, but before I start my college journey I was looking for some advice on whether I should get my real estate license or not. In Ohio (where I live), you must obtain 120 hours of class time and pass your final. I have money saved up to cover the fees which I've read are roughly $1,000-$1,500 but I want to get the license in the summer of 2017 before I start college in fall of 2017. Is it a good idea? With a real estate license before college, I can use the commission fee to help pay for college instead of student loans if and when I make a sale, I know its a lot of work but i think I can do it since I've always been hard working (I currently have 2 part time Jobs and I go to school of course). I just need some advice because I think eventually once I learn a little more about the housing market and contracts and all the paperwork that goes into buying a home and selling a home, I can start early on investing and hopefully live life debt free from college after I begin my investing journey. Thanks!