All Forum Posts by: Thomas Rodgers

With my current plan to be living in the first house (SFH) for a year then moving to rent it out, what should I realistically be expecting to get on the numbers? The reason for doing this is get the lower down payment with conventional financing. Would the aim be to at least brake even when it comes to renting it out? I know that with the lower down payment comes lower cash flow but I am not sure if it is realistic to expect any cash flow at all unless I can buy at a big enough discount. I am starting to think that it would make more sense to just save up the 20%.

Also what are some good ways to really set a clear criteria to aid in finding reasonable prospects for single family homes. Looking in the Middletown Ohio area.

Thank you.

In some of the books i have been reading they talk about setting criteria and part of their criteria is buying houses at a 20% discount and with opportunity to improve the value.

Im not sure on what they are discounting. Is it the comps of the properties sold nearby, the arv, or the list price? And also do you subtract the estimated rehab cost from the to get their purchase price for their offer? Is this even realistic?

Im trying to set up a good criteria i can give to to people once i get started on acquiring my first property in the Dayton - Cincinnati OH area.

I have been struggling with finding ways to try and valuate houses while i am still trying to save money for the first investment. So far my plan is still to start with single family unless i can find a multi my family will approve of because i will be living in it for the first year to help get started sooner.

So far i have came up with ignoring the list price and finding out what a few other houses near the same neighborhood as a listed house on redfin or similar apps would rent for typically a 3/2 with rents ranging from $1k-$1500 and just googling some common expenses and thinking that taking 30% off the rent to get the NOI and dividing by a 7% cap to get a idea of what i can pay for a property. (Located between West Chester OH and Dayton OH)

I am wondering if thats an accurate way to value properties or a bad idea. Also wondering how to think about valuations when using owner occupied loans to get lower down payments knowing the cashflow could be low or nonexistent on most listings

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

@Justin Elliott

So how do you get to know the numbers? Are you just estimating your mortgage with a mortgage calculator then looking up local rent and see if the spread is good enough to cover expenses? And I have to try and find a way to do this without house hacking because my family does not approve.

@Adam Sieg

Are you just buying a rent ready house or is it a platform like Fundrise?

@Joe Miller not really utilities because those can mostly be covered by the tenants. I am more confused on how you would get the information to calculate a reasonable number for expenses when trying to evaluate deals off of apps like red fin

I am wanting to get some advise for my next steps and thought it might be better to ask this group over the real estate group. I am nearing the end of my debt paydown phase and im trying decide on a long term plan. Ultimately my end goal is to end up in apartment complexes but my plan to get to get there may not be ideal.

My current plan is to save up money for the down payment on my fisrt house as an owner occupied loan to get a lower down payment and repeat the process until I can start putting down the 20% for multi family investment properties then eventually getting up to apartments.

The main thing I am wanting advise on is weather that is even an ideal plan or not. Also when it comes to getting the first couple of houses should I be submitting lower than list price offers just off of what I see online then doing due diligence and inspections if they even entertain or counter my offer or is the goal to submit an offer good enough to get it under contract and negotiate later, or is there a better way? Lastly what is the best way to get the information to make a good estimate on operating costs of a single family house to evaluate deals?

Thank you.

I am looking for some advise on the best way to practice evaluating deals virtually while I continue to work on building up my position to invest in long term rentals. Thanks in advance.

Is it worth getting your realtor license even if you dont think you will be a good sales person to help further you in real estate investing and potentially make extra money part time

@Matthew Brill thank you i really appreciate it the responses so the way i see it is first get my finances under control then build up the down payment on the house hack then start looking for a suitable house. Now would you recommend i do the 3.5% down and using any grants available to help speed up the process at the expense of pmi or wait till i can do the 20%