All Forum Posts by: Thomas O'Donnell

What's up all my fellow Columbus investors! I just moved to the area a week ago and am currently looking at house-hacking my first property. I was wondering if anyone out here holds investor meet ups, or would be interested in starting some. I would love to connect and network with experienced investors in the area, or others who are stating out just like myself. Please feel free to comment on this post or message me directly if you know of anything going on and/or would like to connect! I am looking to build a portfolio out here and would love to pick your brain and share ideas!

 Thank you! And yes I plan on holding my properties long term. 

What's up my fellow peeps! I will be buying my first investment property soon via house-hacking and I'm wondering if I should buy points or not. When do you know if you should buy down your interest rate or not? What factors should you look at when determining if this is the move?

What's up guys! I'm in need of some advice/tips for my first investment property. I am moving to Columbus, Ohio next week and will be staying in an Air B&B for a month while I secure a job and look for property. My goal is to get into a duplex (this is really what I want) but I only have a pre approval estimate (not official til I pick up employment over there) of around $150-160k. Unfortunately there are no duplexes in this range, and most of them are over $250k. However, I could qualify for a SFH and rent out the rooms. I really really would prefer to get a duplex as opposed to a SFH and rent out rooms. What are some creative ways that I can finance a duplex/qualify for something well over my loan estimate? Also, many of the SFH have just one bathroom for 3 bedrooms and sometimes 4 bedrooms. If I am renting out the rooms in a SFH, I would really like there to be at least 2 bathrooms for the amount of people living there. I would much rather have a duplex than a SFH but it seems to be almost impossible. I refuse to give up though as it is what I really want. Thank you for any tips on how I can finance this or find other ways to qualify.

Even if I finance the repairs with hard money, how would I get the home to qualify for FHA without the 203k addition?

 That's awesome! I'd love to connect and learn about how your experience has been

 It seems difficult to get the 203k addition no? I haven't seen many people use it and I've had others tell me in the past that it is super hard to push through. Of course I still haven't tried it myself so can't be too sure.

What's up my BP fam! I'm currently in need of some advice. I will be looking to purchase my first investment property within the next month when I move to Columbus, OH. My original plan was to house-hack a duplex by living in one side and renting out the other. I am looking to do some value add (nothing too major probably), however I know FHA loans can be pretty strict when it comes to the condition of your property. I will not have enough for an investment down payment (20%), but can for sure do 3-5%. My question is, how can I still use an FHA loan but also get a rehab financed? Is there a way I can do this? Or is there a way to have two different sets of financing, one for the property and one for the rehab? I am hoping to have a few options as I would love to add a little sweat equity in the beginning. Please let me know if any of you have been able to get properties that need work approved, and also get your rehab financed in some type of way. Sorry if this is a little unclear, bottom line is I want to fix up and then house-hack a duplex, what are my options and how can I get this done?

Thanks for all the responses! I cannot wait to begin this journey!

Of course! I have honestly been thinking about vlogging my out of state move, along with my plans to get started in real estate and then document the journey as I go through the process. If I do that sort of thing, I’ll definitely be sharing with the community!