@Scott LorenceThe advantages to renting to college students are that they generally leave after a few years so you can do repairs or updates, you can raise rents on a regular schedule, they will pay a premium to be near campus, and if you get engineering students they tend to fix the small stuff on their own.

An additional benefit of a detailed engineering-based Cost Segregation Study is that it can increase potential insurance premium savings as well as provide support for the property tax appeals process.

Since we used small investor capital to buy and sell loans, we had some investors that were softward engineers.

I started as an electrical engineer, but the entrepreneurial fire inside me couldn’t be ignored.

➡️Reverse engineer investment strategies.

I’ve been listening to the BiggerPockets podcast daily on my commute and finally decided to jump into the forums to learn, connect, and start taking action.A little about me:I work as a Substation Design Engineer and currently live near the Jersey Shore.I’m focused on learning about house hacking, buy-and-hold rentals, and creative financing strategies.Right now, my biggest challenges are:Understanding the best financing options for a first-time investor.Finding a solid market near me that aligns with my budget and goals.Learning how to analyze deals with confidence.If anyone has tips, resources, or experiences they’d be willing to share, I’d love to hear them!

Highest number of units without getting into commercial buidling codes at 4 units you have additional engineering requirements. 

Never built in Houston before so take my feedback with a grain of salt but I'd put money on it being impossible to build a duplex from scratch for $125 a foot (including everything from drawings, engineering, permit fees, general conditions, labor, material, landscaping).Out here in AZ the builder cost is going to be $200 a foot at best, but add 20% on top of that for the client cost.

If you play around with my DSCR pricing engine link in my profile's bio you'll see that the difference in rate for 680 vs. 780 is about 100 bps.Most lenders have brackets for about every 20 points or so.  680-699, 700-719, etc.

Since graduating in 2021, I moved to Washington, DC to pursue a civil engineering career and am now feeling like I am in more of a position to start learning and pursuing real estate investing seriously.