All Forum Posts by: Nick Meister

Wow, this has been entertaining! It's awesome to see so many driven people making it happen each and every day. Keep up the good work everyone! 

I also thought Hal's routine provided some great value. I've modified slightly to include:

An early wake-up call

Shower/Pray/Meditate on events of the day

Read/Pack Lunch

Commute/Listen to something that motivates me

Generally first one into the office. There's something very peaceful about arriving before the busyness of the day sets in. Allows me to get the coffee going, catch up on emails and local news.

Typically try to find time to exercise, read, and maintain relationships after work. 

Thanks for the feedback @Ralph R. and @Steve Vaughan. 

Ralph - My credit score is actually pretty good, not 800+ good, but still solid. The reason my car loan interest rate is so high is due to a technicality at my bank in regards to the age of a vehicle. They have some sort of pricing matrix that alters interest rate based on the age of a car. Since my desire was to have as little of a car loan as possible, I bought a nice used 2007 Mazda 3s. Great little car with only 40k miles. Unfortunately, 2007 was the arbitrary cut-off year after which interest rates increased by 200 basis points. Rather unlucky. If I'd known that I would have searched for at least an 08' or newer. 

At this point it's a relatively small loan amount so the interest isn't killing me. 

Appreciate your comments though. I've made a point to set aside a three month nest egg for those worst case scenarios. 

Gotcha. Cool! What about the possibility of house hacking in Big Rapids? I've had a number of friends go to Ferris, so I've made fairly regular trips up there. I will admit that it is certainly no GR, but it is a college town with a highly transient population which bodes well for filling rental units. Not to mention your money will definitely go a little farther up there. Plus, it's only a 45 min. - 1 hour drive from Grand Rapids. Just a thought.

As far as commercial vs. residential goes, according to banks, technically anything above 4 units is considered commercial so 25+ units would definitely be in that category. But if your coming at it from the construction/development side of things, pretty much any bank financing you get would be running through the commercial loan department. 

Courtney - Yeah, I am finding that to be more and more true every day that passes. GR's housing market is particularly tight, but I'm seeing investors all over the country comment on supply shortages. It seems to be a national trend. A fellow BP member led me to this article which I think is VERY telling of the Grand Rapids market overall. http://stateofopportunity.michiganradio.org/post/p...

@Adam Womack - Thanks for the insight. That's a somewhat unique perspective that I had not directly considered. I'll keep forging ahead!

Welcome @Ethen Weaver! Always nice to meet a fellow aspiring house-hacker :) 

What school here in town offers construction management classes? I went to Grand Valley, and don't remember seeing any. That's pretty neat though. Are you drawn more towards the residential or commercial side?

@Courtney Sorrell Thanks for the resources! I am absolutely interested in house hacking. I think it is an amazing strategy for someone in my position (aka - young, single guy). Based on your comment I'm assuming you took a similar approach? 

I appreciate the offer to help :) At this point I am looking for small multi-family properties on the West and Northwest side of Grand Rapids. Ideally with a minimum of 2 bedrooms per unit, separately metered utilities, and in-unit washer dryer hookups. If you happen across anything that meets that rough criteria, I'd love to check it out. Otherwise, feel free to reach out if you need a hand with anything. I learn best by doing!  

Thanks for the feedback guys. I appreciate your insights.

@Michael P. I agree with you on differentiating between good and bad debt. I am not opposed to "good" debt due to the obvious benefits of leverage. (That's a big reason why real estate investing is so appealing to me as opposed to stocks and bonds) Again though, I agree with you in that I'm not sure I'd classify student loans and car payments as "good" debt in the sense that neither are directly producing income for me (debatable topic).

@Jason D. Thank you for that! That's exactly what I was looking for. Similar experience. What you described has been my exact plan. I think I've made up my mind to continue on my journey of squirreling away everything I can while keeping my current loan repayment schedule. Now, if only I wasn't looking to buy at such a booming time in GR :)

Drew,

Unfortunately I have no new market insights for you. I just thought I'd chime in and see what other's thoughts were on Grand Rapids at the moment. Of course there's loads of articles coming out rating GR as "3rd tightest housing market in U.S" or "Best place to purchase a home" etc. This kind of PR seems to be driving in a lot of out of towners. Both housing prices and shortages seem to be increasing at a quickening rate. My initial thought was that we may be verging on a bubble, but now I'm not so sure. Historically, Grand Rapids housing has been well below the national average, but a recent GRBJ article stated the median list price for starter homes is $165,015, while a trade-up’s median listing is $289,455, which is more in line with the national average.

What do you all think? Are we seeing a potential bubble form due to extremely low inventory, or is Grand Rapids housing just starting to catch up to the national average where it may belong?

Hey BP guys and gals!

I've got a quandary which I'm sure many recent and not so recent college grads face. I'll quickly paint the scenario.

I graduated from university just under 1 year ago. Upon graduation, I landed a great gig working for a company here in Grand Rapids. Through a combination of saving, working through school, and a little help from my parents I came out of college with around $20k in student loans. In addition, due to a unforeseen car accident (aren't they all?) I had to take out a small auto loan to purchase a vehicle. For round numbers let's say $5k. The student loans carry an average interest rate of around 4.7%, while the auto loan is at 6.74%. I set up an automatic payment schedule that will allow me to pay down the student loans in 5 years (monthly payment of $340)  and the auto loan in 3 years (monthly payment of $175), which I think is pretty good. On top of all this, I've been living below my means and have managed to save a nice little nest egg over the past year. 

I understand the logic of investing extra money if you are able earn a higher rate of return than you are paying on your debt. Ultimately my question boils down to the fact that I could accelerate my loan pay down considerably and get myself free and clear of any encumbrances, which would be an amazing feeling! At the same time, doing so would likely mean postponing the purchase of my first rental property. I've been struggling with this for some time now. Do I continue with my current payment schedule and just live with the loans, while continuing to save (this option would likely allow me to purchase my first property in less than 12 months), or do I bump up the loan repayment, become debt free in approximately 1 year, and then start aggressively saving with an additional $515 per month ($340+$175)?

Apologies for that "quick" summation. Any comments/suggestions/advise from those that may have gone through similar circumstances would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Great insights @Account Closed! It's been interesting to watch lately, as it seems new mixed-use developments are being announced with increasing frequency. The odd thing is that nearly all of them claim to be coming in as "market rate" apartments with rent starting at $1200+ per month. I'm just a little confused who the target demographic is for all of these units, especially 1 bedrooms. I'd say I probably am, as a young professional, but I just can't justify paying double the rent to live a little closer to downtown. I suppose that's just my opinion, coming from someone saving everywhere they can to buy their first property!

Clay - Any thoughts on whether all the new construction units will have an impact on more traditional multi-family rentals?