Next Steps

Where to go from here?

If you have decided that investing in real estate should a part of your investment portfolio, you should begin mapping out a strategy with your Realtor®, your loan officer, or both. You should evaluate how much cash you have available and define your investment criteria using this as a starting point. The planning phase is critical.

You should also confer with your mortgage consultant to be sure that you will be able to secure the kind of financing you want for this property. Just as anyone planning to buy their residence should be pre-approved before starting the process, you should do the same as an investor. Preapproval is generally a quick process; you will supply tax returns, bank statements and pay stubs at the outset. You may have to produce other documentation as well, depending on the complexity of your own situation. Your mortgage person (preferably your humble author) will be able to explain further.

 About the Author

Joe Parsons is the owner and manager of PFS Funding, a mortgage banker and broker in Dublin, California. He attended Brown University, studying American Literature with the hope of eventually writing the Great American Novel. After a stint in the United States Navy, where he was stationed aboard the WWII aircraft carrier, USS Shangri-La (CVS-38), he loaded all his worldly possessions including two cats and a new wife into a 1966 Volkswagen bus, heading westward from Rhode Island to California.

He began his career in real estate in 1977, after deciding that owning restaurants was not conducive to spending time with his growing family. He learned about investment real estate from highly experienced brokers who were willing to mentor him, from clients who were willing to show him what they had already learned, and from the Realtors’ National Marketing Institute’s Commercial Investment CCIM educational program.

After thirteen years of listing, selling and exchanging investment real estate, he found himself appointed the Vice President of Operations for a new mortgage company in Walnut Creek. He has been a loan officer since that fateful day in 1990.

Joe Parsons spends his off time writing, building, flying and repairing expensive miniature helicopters and spoiling four grandchildren.

He is always willing to engage in commerce or conversation:

Get the eBook, Growing Equity — A Guide for the Hopeful Investor, at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.

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