Newbie wanting to invest

[Gilda L. Sauceda]

Hi everyone,

I finished college and started making some money with my career. I want to invest it into a multifamily rental 3-4 units occupied owned. Any advice? I got pre approved for a loan but now what? I’m not good with numbers.. what would you do in my situation so that my first investment can be somewhat safe? My agent isn’t competent in investments and I just don’t want brokers telling me what I want to hear.. I don’t want fear and incompetence to stop me from jumping into real estate, what are my options? I am reading books and researching but it seems like a lot and the more I do it the more it scares me off lol.  Thank you everyone! 

[Ian Jimeno]

Hi Gilda!

Glad you're looking into investing, especially house hacking! You're making the right moves in getting pre-approved and working with an agent, and from what it sounds like, you should find an agent that has investment properties of their own, has done a house hack (or has worked with several house hacking clients), and is knowledgeable in underwriting deals for house hacking. Hopefully you haven't signed an Exclusive Right to Buy with them already...

A great place to start is to click on the "Find an Agent" at the top of the Bigger Pockets page. It'll help you find an agent who understands the ins and outs of real estate investing. You need a guide, someone not afraid to tell you that a certain path is a good/bad path. I do this a lot for my clients, and even though they're backing out from certain deals, I know I'm guiding them in the right direction!

Knowledge is power, yes, but too much analysis can leave you paralyzed from fear of the unknown. Find an agent who has done it before! If you're ever in the Denver area, I would love to help you out and understand your goals.

Cheers and best of luck!