First home first investment

[Joseph Z.]

hey all
I'm living in NYC, 
I want to go into real estate, not sure yet if I would want to do house hacking or cash flow investment, or both.
I have over 250k cash ready to invest, would want to hear from the professionals about which way and path I should choose, should I try to invest in my area (NYC isn't cheap) or should I start out of state?
I'm not very risk-tolerant.
would love to talk to someone who is in the business for a while and wants to help.
Best

[Michael Glunk]

@Joseph Z. First of all, congratulations on starting your real estate investment journey! 

I agree with @Luka Milicevic and @Jim Pellerin and others...You need to first determine what you want. i.e. What is your goal? And it can't be as broad as to make money. It needs to be specific. I've been a real estate investor for over 17 years and my goal(s) have definitely changed over time. But I always have a goal that I am shooting for. 

I am also a real estate agent in Colorado and I see this a lot with my investor clients. They say they want an investment property but they don't know what they want. They just know they like the idea of it, but don't know what else to do or where to start. So this aspect is where I add value in helping them uncover their goal(s). But without a goal, it's hard for anyone to answer your question and provide solid value. 

The cliff notes approach to this is to start by asking yourself, what am I looking to achieve? And then to continue asking yourself questions until you get down to something very specific. e.g. Keep asking yourself "What would I need to do/make true to achieve that result?". Let's say the answer to that initial question is monthly cash flow. So how much cash flow do you need to make per property or per door to feel it's a good investment for your situation? Is that desired cashflow specific to a particular property value or value range? Or are you also looking for a certain cash on cash return? If so what type of cash on cash return? Because of course you could pay cash for a property and of course it will/should cashflow if you pay cash, but is that the best use of your money? That's your call, but many like to use leverage so they can accumulate more. So what's the balance of cash on cash to cashflow that you are looking to achieve? Is there a price range you feel most comfortable in? You mentioned you are not very risk tolerant. So maybe you want a property that isn't that expense because to you it feels less risking. 

So you see one example, many questions (of which the above isn't all of them and is just one individual scenario that could branch in many different ways), but I hope you get the point. 

But when you know the answer to that question, you then have a focus. You then have something to go and hunt for. And you have something for others to hunt for. e.g. If you tell a realtor, I'm looking in a max $500,000 price range. I only want a long term rental. I'm going to use a property manager. I want a minimum of at least 10% cash on cash. And or a minimum of 10% cash on cash but if the property is a cheaper property I want to at least cash flow $200+ per door. That's something tangible. That's something that someone can help you find. 

The answer could vary again based on different scenarios. The answer could be a single family home that you rent. It could be a small multifamily that you rent or that you live in one side and rent out the other(s). Or it could be a property that you house hack. (Of course if you have a preference here that helps narrow things even further.) But having a goal(s) at least gives a specific enough request to which someone can help find solutions. 

Make sense?

Hope that helps. Happy to chat more. Hey, you're on here so that's a start. Starting and taking action is step one. So congratulations on that!