Advice for Purchasing first Real Estate Investment Property

[Michael Chase]

Good Evening everyone,

After months of research and years of thinking about investing in real estate, I'm ready to do my first deal. I have my preapproval in hand and am analyzing deals like a mad man. 

Any advice for someone just starting out?

I've found a few potentially good deals. I've analyzed and the numbers work. One particularly interests me. Its a 4 bd, 2.5 bath 3,000 square ft for 179k  but it needs some updating. If done right I believe the home could sell for 350k+ do to the value of the smaller homes on the same block and the neighborhood its in. I would need to get into some creative financing for the rehab because I just dont have the cash at this time. Any suggestions?

Another analyzed deal is a 6 bd, 3 bath, 2 kitchen, 3200 sq ft SINGLE FAMILY for 135k. Call me nuts but i could easily see with some creativity turning this into a 2 unit apt due to the lay out and would cashflow like crazy in this scenario.  However the seller is wanting cash which I dont have that much. Im still educating myself on wholesaling but is this a possible way to profit off the deal, even though i dont have the cash in hand? 

My situation is this- 20k liquid, and growing every week, and 20k credit with solid finances (not alot of debt). Any advice yall could give me would be appreciated. Trying to break through this barrier of hesitation and let the numbers do the talking. Thanks

[Joe Villeneuve]

Quote from @Michael Chase:

Good Evening everyone,

After months of research and years of thinking about investing in real estate, I'm ready to do my first deal. I have my preapproval in hand and am analyzing deals like a mad man. 

Any advice for someone just starting out?

I've found a few potentially good deals. I've analyzed and the numbers work. One particularly interests me. Its a 4 bd, 2.5 bath 3,000 square ft for 179k  but it needs some updating. If done right I believe the home could sell for 350k+ do to the value of the smaller homes on the same block and the neighborhood its in. I would need to get into some creative financing for the rehab because I just dont have the cash at this time. Any suggestions?

Another analyzed deal is a 6 bd, 3 bath, 2 kitchen, 3200 sq ft SINGLE FAMILY for 135k. Call me nuts but i could easily see with some creativity turning this into a 2 unit apt due to the lay out and would cashflow like crazy in this scenario.  However the seller is wanting cash which I dont have that much. Im still educating myself on wholesaling but is this a possible way to profit off the deal, even though i dont have the cash in hand? 

My situation is this- 20k liquid, and growing every week, and 20k credit with solid finances (not alot of debt). Any advice yall could give me would be appreciated. Trying to break through this barrier of hesitation and let the numbers do the talking. Thanks

I'm going to give you some advice using your above post as a basis for it:
1 - You're a REI not a REA.  # of beds, baths, cost/sq ft mean nothing as far as influencing your decision to buy a property.
2 - Smaller homes have no impact on the value of larger ones.  Only use sales comps on homes in the immediate area that are within 10% of the home in question.
3 - The knowledge you need to do Wholesaling is the exact same as if you are buying it for yourself.  The only difference between a wholesaler and the end buyer is the one that actually closes on the property.
4 - The cost of any/every home you invest in is ONLY the cash you put into it...as long as it is cash flow positive.  The tenant is paying everything else, not you.  The goal of the CF is to recover your cost as fast as you can, so the smaller the cash you put in, the faster you should recover your cost and start to profit.
5 - Now, here's the most important (yes, even more important than the above), don't start looking for properties and then figure out how you are going to pay for it.  Do it the other way around. Start with what you can afford, which is your cash.  Figure that is your DP, closing costs, rehab, and all the other cash items that happen upfront.  Extrapolate out from there to tell you the max offer you can make (notice I didn't say asking price).