All Forum Posts by: Tyler Hodgson

@Bart H. I'm a local mortgage broker, and you are correct that someone can house hack with a Conventional loan with less than 20% down. A primary residence 2-4 units requires a 15% down payment for a standard Conv loan. The less-known HomePossible program (Conv loan) allows 5% on a 2-4 unit. I almost always recommend HomePossible to my clients who are house-hacking over an FHA loan, when they qualify for HomePossible. @Paul Burns I can explain the differences in more detail if you'd like. 

I'd also note that in my experience FHA loans don't have a stigma with sellers in DFW 95% of the time. I've completed dozens of FHA transactions in the last few years with little no fuss from sellers or listing agents, and rarely have appraiser-required repairs.

Also, @Bart H. is spot on with real estate agent referrals. Both @Kenneth McKeown and @Megan King are great agents whom are both investors themselves. I've done many transactions with both KC and Megan, and I'd highly recommend either of them to you! You'll see both KC and Megan recommended time and time again here on BP, and both very engaging and helpful on the forums. 

Lastly, PMI is negligible as long as your cash flow makes sense, and when you have the opportunity to purchase a property with less cash invested the benefits of opportunity cost and saving that cash for other investments almost always outweighs the cost of PMI. Personally, I'd take PMI every day of the week if I could continue to stack up properties at 3% and 5% down.

@Kenneth McKeown is consistently finding 8-12% CoC return deals all over the metroplex. You should hit him up

Hey Sean, I’m practically a Dallas native (lived here since I was eight), and I’m also in the mortgage industry. I’m an investor in single family, multi family, and senior living. Welcome to Dallas, and I’d be happy to connect in person sometime!

@Donald Nnamdi - FHA is usually the route people go for a 2-4 unit primary residence, but you'll also want to explore a 5% down conventional option for 2-4 unit properties, or even 3% down conventional for a single family.

Let me know if you have any specific questions or need help comparing the differences. 

@Tyler Pfaffenbach welcome to BP. Great intro post! Love it!

I live in Lewisville as well. Grew up in DFW area, in Irving for most of my life. Now investing, mortgaging, CPAing, traveling, and living the life! 

Hit me up if you ever want to meet up, and get to know each other better. Happy to share my story and experiences. 

@Caleb Jordan thanks for the tag. Unfortunately I don’t have any lender partners (I’m a broker) who offer 203k loans at this time. They just don’t like dealing with the complexities of renovation loans. Personally, I avoid them for the difficulty and higher rates! 

@Andrew Postell do you offer 203k and/or any other renovation products? If so, what is your experience with them (good and bad)?

Hey @Ryan Clements! I’ve lived in the DFW area for most of my life. What brings you to Dallas?

Depending on the specific areas of DFW or actually Dallas that you aren’t looking in you could have a wide range and variety of MFH options. 

I would recommend getting your feet wet with simpler projects before diving in to doing a conversion. You want to be familiar with the city and codes for where you are converting and probably want to get some good relationships with contractors before undertaking a large project. 

@Kenneth McKeown is a fellow investor and real estate agent who has helped a lot of bigger pockets members in finding and purchasing MFHs in the DFW market. Hit him up, he’ll be able to answer a lot of your questions. 

@Megan King thanks!

@Kenneth McKeown thanks for the tag!

@Rodney Gray Kenneth is right, definitely shop around with a couple of lenders. Use someone local who is also an investor. BP is a great place to find someone who knows their stuff. 

I agree with @Chris Mason regarding wanting to live somewhere first and get to know some areas, but also agree that there is some downside with the hassle and costs of moving.