All Forum Posts by: Tim Steward

Plan is to live in it for the next two years and then yes I want to go the student housing route or the military family route still have to look into both options. My fiancé is in the OT program at Wesley so we will have a hook up there for potential future tenants and hopefully won’t have to worry as much about the place getting trashed with grad students haha. Rent rates should be good, we should be able to get 3 different students in there if we go that route. Lol yeah it is definitely a shame but not much I can do now! 

And yeah I’m a little frustrated I wasn’t aware of the homestyle in the first place! It seems to be the better option all the way around 

@Eric Armstrong it’s coming along, definitely been a process haha. I was supposed to close on a place in September but still have yet to get the keys. 

Ended up getting a townhouse and going for a 203k loan, however we ran into all kinds of delays with the contractor and now the title work. A day before closing in October we found out the place was listed as a condo on the deed and needed to be on the FHA approved list of condos in order to qualify for a 203k loan. This was a huge shock because no where was it advertised to me as a condo, it was listed as a townhouse and all other documents I had seen listed it as a townhouse. So we had a two week extension to yesterday in order to get the title work taken care. Only to find out that we could not actually get the verbage of condo removed without the builders, who are MIA. The best we could do is get an addendum on the title work saying that it is not a condo but a townhouse. Apparently the builders planned on making the properties condos and a part of an HOA, but never got around to it. But because of this the property is listed as a condo still. But without the words condo being removed from the title the FHA would not approve.

So now we are working for another extension and switching over to a home style renovation loan in hopes that we can get approval there, as HUD will not be involved. It honestly has been a major headache, but also a great learning experience and will help me a lot moving forward. It will make the day I finally get the keys that much sweeter! Haha. Otherwise I'm loving Delaware so far and looking forward to investing more here in the future!

(Sorry for the lengthy response, a lot to get off my chest!)

Dustin Verley thanks man, yeah I went down and visited a week or so ago and I could tell that neighborhood changes very quickly depending on which you go from the school. The downtown area seemed great, I’m hoping for something towards that.

@Eric Armstrong Thanks for the advice, I really like the student housing idea. The parental cosign is a big plus. And the military housing is interesting as well, I would have to look into how that works.

Hi all,

My name is Tim Steward and I am making the move to the Dover, DE area this fall as I will be starting grad school at Wesley College. I would love to be able to begin my real estate investing career at the same time! Instead of renting an apartment I am hoping to buy a duplex that needs some TLC, fix it up and rent out the other half. After I finish school in two years I will either sell the property or hire a property manager and rent out both sections of the house. I plan on using an FHA loan to take advantage of the 3.5% down payment and possibly a 203k loan depending on the repairs needed. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions regarding this strategy they are more than welcome! Also I have never even been to Delaware and have no idea about the area and the real estate market. I am visiting soon and will be starting my research but anyone who is familiar with the area that has any knowledge or contacts that could help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

@Alex V. Yeah, definitely that would be much appreciated!

Hey everyone,

I am also very interested in the Bloomfield area. I feel like there is a lot of potential. I am looking to purchase my first property in this area. I would like to do a "house hack" on a three family, as I found that the numbers just really do not work for two families with the taxes in northern NJ being so high. The only problem I feel I may run into with a three family is that my debt to income ratio my not be high enough for an FHA loan on a three family property. My understanding is that for first time investors potential rental income is not calculated when applying for the loan. Does anyone have any insight, tips, or advice? I am open to considering other strategies I just really like the house hack idea and think it would be a great way to get my investment career started. Any help would be much appreciated!!

@John Leavelle Yeah, I'm familiar with the 203k loan. I guess learning as much as I can about rehabbing would probably be a good place to start! I'm definitely going to have to start with a house hack and then your right I'll have to evaluate my situation at the time. I have about 7-9 months until the purchase would make sense and  4-5 months until I'll even know which market I plan to start in. So I guess for now I'll get to reading! Thanks for the advice!

@John Leavelle Interesting. Very good to know that makes sense. Now my question is, would you recommend such a large rehab project for a first time buyer/investor? That’s my only issue with starting on such a distressed property. I would have no experience dealing with such a major repair. I would like to minimize risk, but obviously you have to take risks if you want to use methods like the ones I’m talking about. However, it gets done my goal is to buy two properties in the next two years to get myself started. Open to any suggestions! And thank you for your insight!

@Andrew Syrios Thanks! Yeah I'm hoping to hold the FHA loan for a year, which hopefully will be long enough. And that's 75-80% of the newly appraised value correct?