Hello, my name is Amy Causey and I am from Shreveport. LA. I am near obsessed with the real estate market and investing. I absolutely love it!! I have read several books and am constantly searching in the Internet for any information I can find (I found your site and really like it…you have a ton of information here). To get to the part where I need help … Shreveport has an old (really old…late 1800’s-1940’s) neighborhood called Highland, which I love because I love older homes. This neighborhood has a ton of huge homes that have been converted to 2-5 unit apartments or duplexes. This is what I am interested in investing in. This neighborhood is kind of strange…a mansion right next door to a shack …all over the place…but so much character and it is also near town and public transportation and there is a medium sized private college right in the mix, so the rental demand is fabulous. I lived in this neighborhood for many years, but have since moved to the outskirts of Shreveport. ….So my ideal situation would be to develop a fair size portfolio of these homes for good cash flow so that I can also pursue other types of real estate transactions.

A little about me, I just graduated from college in May 2005, before this I was in the Army for 4 years, I currently am working in home sales for a local home builder and have been employed there since June 2005. (So employment length may be a definite problem) My wages are $2500 per month salary plus 2.5% commission on homes I sale, which averages about $5,000 a month

I have 2 properties currently, one I just purchased in March 2005 (Its my residence, I paid $129,000 for the property with 5% down, currently have around $18,000 in equity) I also have a house in the Highland area that I purchased in 2003 and am currently renting for $695 a month (I paid $65,000 for the prop with 5%down but have done a ton of rehabbing and have about $20,000 in equity).

I have good credit with a mid score of at least 680. (No lates on anything)

My monthly mortgage debts are $1,465 (includes taxes and insurance) and other debts total $700. I have approximately $5,000 in savings. (Would prefer not to use upfront but will count for reserves)

I am looking for 100% N/O/O loans that will allow the seller to contribute to closing in Louisiana. (I see tons of ads for other states but for some reason LA is always left out.)

The Multifamily properties range from the mid $60’s to the mid $120s. Most props will need some minor cosmetic work, which I can do myself and if all units are rented should clear $400- $1000 or more profits per month.

I apologize for writing so much, I just wanted to give as much info as possible. Please feel free to contact me at amycausey25@yahoo.com

Thanks so much….

Hi Amy,

Let's start with this - anything from 1-4 units will fall under residential rules. Once you go to 5 & up, you are in commercial loans.

Be very careful in neighborhoods where there shacks next to mansions, it can be easy for the property values to go the wrong direction. It is advisable to talk with those who are already investing in the area & have for a while. A good resource may be your local investing group. Seek out people who have property, not those who are excited pumped & have nothing. Don't burst their bubble, just know they are not good advisors.

Have you considered private money for your projects? If you are buying a fixer upper it is very easy to use a "subject to" appraisal to show what the value will be along with all the info you use to make sure for yourself. If you do this, you can borrow the purchase funds, fix money, closing costs, holding costs, pay yourself to be general contractor & not even have payments do until your home is ready to move renters into. Done correctly, you will be able to refinance this through a traditional lender & by then your property will be seasoned (you will have had it 6-12 months) & you will have a longer track record on your job & all of this is very appealing to a lender. Since you will have, say, bought it for 50k, put 20k in it & now it is worth maybe 100k, you can look for a lower loan to value & still meet all of your needs.

I hope this is helpful to you.