Take Action or Continue to Save and Educate?

[Andrew Rellinger]

Hello, I took the first steps in getting started in REI since August by purchasing How to Invest in Real Estate by Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner and educating myself on how to get involved. I have since finished the book and understand the importance of taking action and not making excuses such as "I need to read [insert title here] book before I buy my first property", "I don't have enough money", etc.. I am dying to take action and buy a property so that I force myself to TRULY be committed opposed to buying a book and calling that "being committed to REI". I decided that I want to do SFH rentals and am currently reading BRRRR by David Greene. For reference I currently live with my parents and I currently have about $10-12k saved up dedicated for REI. I am not sure if I should get in the market now or wait. I would love to hear input from the people who are currently investing and get perspective and insight on which option is smarter.

Why I want to get into the market now:

• Interest rates are only going to continue to rise.
• I want to learn hands on the experience of BRRRR
• Time is going to pass anyways, so why not get involved and buy a property to learn REI

Why I want to wait to get into the market:

• I can save money and continue to educate myself
• The money I save up will allow me to more easily afford a house and repair costs before renting it out
• By more easily being able to afford repairs, the time it takes to fully rehab a house will be less than waiting and saving each paycheck for every repair I want to make.
• If I wait and save aggressively, it will likely put me in a better position to scale my portfolio sooner and perhaps buy two homes in the same year that I decide to buy my first property.

I know I am going to make mistakes on my first property and it will be more of a learning and educational experience rather than one that is flawless. Should I just take action and learn the business, or should I continue to save and educate so that I can more easily scale my portfolio latter opposed to starting off right now?

Is it smarter to wait to have enough money so that I can build my portfolio faster or smarter to take action now, learn the business and build my portfolio at a slower rate being more strapped for cash?