All Forum Posts by: Victor So

@John Moorhouse

Hey,

One option to qualify for a loan at a young age is to have a co-signer (who has a stable income, good credit on the loan, etc) so you can get a low down payment conventional loan (3-5%) that you can househack. (ex. Mom, dad, sister, brother).

@Joshua Schaffner Hey Joshua, along with the advice given above, another option would be to have a co-signer (someone with a stable job, good credit, etc) so that you’d qualify for a low down payment (3-5%) on a property you can househack.

@Blake Bittner Are you looking to go to college? If so, you may not qualify for a loan on your own since your income won’t be high. But if you can have a parent or family member go 50/50 with you, you can buy a property with a fha loan and pay only 3.5% down and then rent out extra rooms!

@Jordan Lepley

Hey Jordan, I've bought all of my duplexes with FHA loans and refinanced into a conventional loan after a year later. You may need to check me on this - but I don't think many lenders will do a 5% conventional on multi-units. I think this applies only for single family homes. So if you wanted to househack a single family home with a 5% conventional, go for it! Otherwise, another option would be to put 3.5% down with a FHA loan on a multi-unit property and if you have money left over, save it for reserves or use it for other investments.

@Brent Knowles

Hey Brent, I had a similar situation on 2 of my duplexes. The way I approached it was that I had my real estate agent structure the contract so that it would be contingent upon the tenants leaving. I had to make sure the tenants were on a month to month lease (or that their lease was up soon) and make sure the sellers have the tenants vacate the property before I closed on the property.

@Drew Flowers

Househack! I wish I did this when I was in college. If I could go back, I would buy a SFH and find roommates to help pay off the mortgage.

@Tim Sipowicz

Hey Tim!

Wow, a lot of great advice on here.

But, another option would be to househack a multi-unit property AND rent by room in order to increase cash flow! I've househacked for the past 3 years now and acquired a SFH and 2 duplexes on the north side of Chicago and north suburbs.

For one of my duplexes, I used to live in one unit, rent out spare rooms in my unit, and also rent out the entire 2nd unit which had 3 bedrooms. However, I was only able to get about 1400-1500 when renting out the entire 2nd unit as opposed to renting each room for $700 (So... 2100 total). I was able to get 600-700 more in rent by renting out individual rooms.

It’s a little more work at times since you have more tenants to manage, etc. but with proper systems in place, you shouldn’t have a problem! Also, this strategy helps me invest in areas I want to live in even if prices are a little more inflated.

So far it’s been awesome! Hope this helps!

He should be able to get a fha loan (given that he doesn’t have a fha loan on a property already) or low down conventional.

Hope this helps!

@Kourtney Gobert

Definitely househacking! Go in with 3.5% fha or even a 5% conventional. If you go with single family home, rent out extra rooms! If you’re going with multi-family, rent out extra units (and rooms!). In my opinion, this is the simplest and least risky!

@Johnny Truong

Hey Johnny,

Like you mentioned, most people just refinance to conventional and get another fha loan. For me, I once used a streamline refinance to get out of the fha cause my appraisal came in low. So that’s another option.

Hope this helps!

Victor