All Forum Posts by: Timothy Metra

@Josh Nabors

Did you do 15 or 30 year? I think I may do some sort of house hacking, but I'm unsure of which to go with. If I use a FHA loan, I won't need nearly the $10k, so I could have some more flexibility by keeping most of that in my savings. My situation would be a lot similar to yours, except I could have the potential to lose my job. I don't have the luxury of being a nurse and having the type of job security that goes with that, so I'm a little timid with the risk. It's good to know you did it all so young, though, since I'm around the same age.

@Jeff F.

Are you saying I should put 10% of the cash flow up for things of that nature happening?

DISCLAIMER

Another thing to consider is that I am a contractor for this company. This is not stable income by any means. They said I should have 2-4 years worth of work, but you never know. I worked out there for a year before and was laid-off.

Please keep that in mind as well. I should have made it more clear on my original post.

@Brad O'Neill

That's awesome, man. My main concern with multi-family is my schedule, so it's good to have some input from someone who was in the military. Were you active at the time? How did you do it? My concern is being a landlord and having such a bad schedule. If something were to go wrong, I couldn't just be there to fix it. Even if it were a couple miles from my home, because my job site is an hour away and I'm there almost more than I'm home! And I know sometimes it's more worth my time to have a plumber come fix the tenant's problem then send me the bill, but I've also heard plenty of horror stories of hiring work out and having hellacious bills. I'm definitely not trying to do all the work myself, but I don't know for sure what I would do in that situation. Any advice?

@Josh Nabors

Thanks for the suggestion, Josh. How long have you been doing this? My main concern is having tenants not pay. Do you have a job? What happens if tenants don't pay, or you can't find any to qualify? Also, never heard of a FHA 203k loan. I'm familiar with a traditional FHA, though. I'll do some research on a 203k.

@Chris Seveney

Maybe I am a total noob. I actually felt pretty knowledgable with REI, but I'm not sure what a "note deal" is, could you elaborate for me? Thanks for the response!

@Steve Bracero

Well for the time being, some passive income would be nice. The thought of taking on the debt is what worries me. If I were to take on a $60,000 multi-family then lose my job (I'm a contractor), I would have to rely on my tenants to pay. If I had 4 bedrooms and even only one doesn't pay, I could be in a bad situation with only a couple hundred extra per month.

Within the next year, I should be able to save ~$40k. So I may just put around $10k down on a smaller multi-family, then have an additional $30k in my bank account in case something happens. Even if I were to lose my job, I would be fine for the time being.

@Stephanie P.

Thanks for the response! I'm actually living in a college town with a lot of potential. My only concern is being a landlord with my schedule. If something were to go wrong, I'd always be away. I live in a college town, but I drive an hour away for work. That's pretty much my only concern is being a landlord and something going wrong with the property. Also, if I wanted to do a little TLC or upgrades (my dad is a construction guru and I've worked with him since high school), I wouldn't have much time to do this. Not trying to sound like I'm making excuses at all, though. I literally was considering if I were to buy a multi-family that needed some minor upgrading that I could do in a week's time, take a week off from work and take care of it. I just wouldn't get paid for that week, because I'm a contractor and don't get PTO.

@Ozzy Smith

Thanks for the reply, Ozzy. I'll add you! I'm getting my license for the same reasons. My only concern with house hacking is being a landlord and my conflicting schedule. Plus taking on that debt. If I were to get even only a 4 unit and only one room rents out plus mine, that's a lot of debt per month to take on without tenants filling. It shouldn't be much of a problem, being that I'm in a college town, but I'd rather be realistic with the chance of not finding qualified tenants versus being optimistic and reality hitting me pretty hard.

@Ruth Bayang

Ruth, thanks for taking the time to reply and being so positive with me. Yes, I'm single and no kids. I plan to stay this way for a very long time. I think it's best to become successful and financially stable before starting a family. Having kids young is one of the worst ways to become a part of the rat race, at least for a lot of people. Not to sound like I'm being negative to those who've done it.

I like the idea of being a sort of venture capitalist in a way, never considered doing that from the beginning, but it makes sense. That's definitely something to consider. I first need to figure out my living situation. Where I live, $50,000 can get me a newer model mobile home and 5 acres of land. I was thinking of maybe buying that in cash, then working another year or so to save a huge chunk of money again. That way, I can take on being a real estate agent and my business full time. If sales are a little slow, I'll have my house paid and $35,000+ sitting in the bank. But I know house hacking is preferred by most people versus that idea. My only worry is taking on such a big amount of debt for my first deal. If it were to fail, I'd definitely be forced to stay at my job.