I live in the western suburbs of Philly and am interested in buy and hold rentals in Philly or maybe Allentown/Bethlehem or other areas reasonably accessible from where I live.   

Already marketing and looking for leads in NJ and CT.. does anyone know a way to get MLS access in these states?

I have set up the loan on an escalating interest rate as follows:Months 1-5 = 8%Month 6 = 9%Months 7-9 = 10%Months 10-12 = 12%It is a 12 month loan with a balloon at the end for payoff or I get the collateral (with any improvements made at rehabber's expense). 100% of the loan amount is going to the purchase price, flipper is paying rehab costs out of pocket.

It can also be difficult if not impossible to access if needed in the future and can vanish with a market correction.

But how do I identify value- add potential, and how do I estimate the "ARV" after improvements are made?

Preferably as many units as possible but with hidden value in making improvements (the unfinished attic in our current house was a goldmine) a.My feeling is auctions are good place to go for this but I don’t know anything about auctions. 3.Rent a property to live in for the first year I can’t subject my fiancé to living in a gut rehab again 4.Use the cash generated from the property and work during that first year to put together a down payment for a house for us. 5.Re finance the rental property and buy more property.These are my other day one questions: 1.I’m an architect, does anyone have any advice for actively leveraging my skills to help me do this real estate investing thing full time/ what career change could help me ease into this while still having a salary?

A good primer on tax-advantaged accounts (IRAs, HSAs) can be found on the Mad FIentist site (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/846/topics/563476-ep-18-accessing-retirement-funds-before-59-1-2-w-the-mad-fientist, https://www.madfientist.com/ultimate-retirement-account/).My background: I worked for many years as an independent contractor through a temporary help agency.

You'll pay more in interest, but you'll have access to the capital you need.

We would like to use the HELOC becuase all-cash offers are king in our market and we also realize that few if any banks and sellers are willing to work through the FHA 203K loan process (which would be necessary to fund the improvements on the sorts of BRRRRs which we are pursuing).Our dilemma is whether or not to max out the HELOC (ie: to take either the 80% option or the 90% option).

I would give him access to the account number as I would transfer the money out of it right away, and would make sure that it didn't allow overdraft.