All Forum Posts by: Zackery Engel

My first mistake would be thinking I wasn't ready or that I couldn't afford to purchase my first small multifamily property to househack which was something I knew I wanted to do long before I ever actually started educating myself about real estate or new that househacking was a term for what I wanted to do.

Second mistake would be not looking into an FHA 203k loan as I didn't know much about that loan product before I decided to jump into my first property. The 203K loan allows you to purchase a property that does need work and adds the construction cost into the loan while still only putting down 3.5%. The loan will require you to get a 203K consultant which is someone who will help you manage the construction of the project along with come up with a scope of work. The mortgage lender pays the contractors directly after proof the work has been completed. I'm not an expert so I would do your own research to verify and learn more information, but that loan product could allow you to get a deal on a property with a value add component without being handy. My property though livable did need a good amount and I'm still working along with spending alot of my own money to complete these projects. I am very handy though so I've been able to do a majority of the work myself.

I appreciate you sharing and taking the time to give me some advice! I will definitely look into that loan (and others) to get a better understanding of my options. I think I'll struggle with feeling ready to purchase my first property as well. It's a lot!

0 Votes

Houston, Texas

Hey Everyone!

I am a 21 year old who just began looking into real estate investing. I'm a 2nd shift factory in New Hampshire, but I grew up in Houston and moved to stay with family when I was 18. I spend my free time reading business, psychology, investment, and philosophy books as well as play games (I try to avoid it to be more productive now). I also have been studying technical analysis for stocks for about 9 months (I've previously traded, but never properly studied and did things the right way). I'm working on using a Python code library called Backtrader to backtest stock strategies and analyze the statistics of how well the strategy performed. I think I'm about ready to trade which is pretty exciting! Now I'm also spending some time looking into real estate as a potential option to make my money work for me. I listen to the Real Estate Rookie podcast at work all day now!

I'm currently looking into the Houston market simply due to the fact that I'm from Houston, but I would potentially invest anywhere; we'll see how things look as I learn! I'm thinking that I'm going to do house-hacking, but I'm not too sure yet honestly. I would love to chat! Here's a few specific questions I have, but would absolutely appreciate any extra insights or advice anyone has for an absolute beginner who has no clue what he's doing:

1. What real estate investment strategies do you think are a good start for absolute beginners with no handyman skills?

2. What books, blogs, pages, channels, etc. would you suggest to learn any general beginner knowledge?

3. What are the biggest mistakes you made as a beginner real estate investor? How did you avoid these mistakes moving forward?

If you have any questions for me feel free to ask, I'll be more than happy to respond!

Cheers everyone; thanks for any responses or questions! Good luck with your investing and have a fantastic week!

1 Vote

Houston, Texas

All Forum Posts by: Zackery Engel

Zackery Engel has started 1 posts and replied 2 times.

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