Young Investor (28) Starting Out

[Gabriel Whitehead]

Hi Bigger Pockets fam, 

Bio:

I'm a 28-year-old aspiring real estate investor. I currently work in big tech (digital ads strategy). I've been an entrepreneur since I was 17, self-taught (mostly) with formal training and incubator experience in Silicon Valley boot camps. My expenses and DTI are relatively low, with some current CC debt, student loans, and no car or car payment. I make over $125k with a credit score above 730 and live in the Bay. I plan to make a company change OR switch careers and become a loan officer in my target market, Phoenix, AZ. My family has lived in the Area 10+ years and owns three properties total. We know the market well. I have cash for a down payment but considering saving it for reserves and looking for more creative ways to more cash flexibility. I also have a strong network, some private equity contacts (California), lenders, agents, contractors, etc.

Goal: 

Optimize towards owning multi-family properties as soon as possible.

The Challenge: 

I was recently in a car accident that left me without a vehicle (long story), and I live in an area where it makes sense to own a car. I would be financing between $15-$18k at 5-6%; I would do this to hedge against buying a beater that may become a money pit. Additionally, renting vehicles when needed could ultimately cost more than what I would pay for the money for the car. 

The Strategies: 

#1: Focus on wholesaling for year one. Use wholesale income to generate larger reserves and then>house hack multi-family>scale multi-family empire over 5 years.   

#2: Skip wholesaling, rehab house hack a multi-family>roll profits from rentals and saved expenses/job income into the next property. Scale multi-family.

#3: Rehab house hack single-family with ADU potential>generate rental income>use rental income/saved expenses/job income>scale multi-family.

Feedback: 

I've spent the last 1.5 years learning different strategies through reading, podcasts ;), and mentorship by osmosis from peers in the industry they grow their investment acumen. 

#1: I'm looking for feedback on buying the car now and pursuing wholesaling, effectively executing on strategy #1. 

#2. I'm looking for feedback on strategies #2 and #3, preserving a low DTI and positioning myself for an FHA entry in Phoenix.

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated; thank you! 

[Nathan A.]

Definitely buy the cheapest car you're comfortable with.

I think whether or not you wholesale first comes down to how much cash you actually have. If you would use up all your cash on the FHA down payment and have no reserves, then you need to wait. But getting into the house hack as soon as possible is also important in cutting your expenses.

I vote for using your FHA loan on the multi-family rather than a single-family (preferring strategy 2 over strategy 3). Strategy 2 is better aligned with your ultimate goal, and it'd be much easier to finance an existing multi-family than go to the trouble of adding an ADU to a SFH that doesn't already have one.