Hello, all! I heard about BP through Brandon Turner's The Book on Rental Property Investing and hope I might be able to get a little bit of advice or even just some words of encouragement.

I've taken a real interest in rental property investing and have felt for a long time that I want to start out with buying a multi-family property and house hacking. This seems to be the best way to go based on my own goals. I'm still very new to the concept but have definitely learned a lot through reading books and browsing other topics here. However, I guess I'm a little discouraged at the moment, given the state of the market and overall economy right now. It's difficult enough learning but in these unprecedented times, there seems to be even more to be aware of.

Traditionally, it seems that the best way to go for a first-time homebuyer is an FHA and a 3.5% down payment. With this in mind, I feel that I already have more than enough to cover a down payment and closing costs on a starter's quality duplex or triplex in a middle-class area in my city (I live in Buffalo). I'm not expecting anything luxurious but a property good enough for a beginning investor to call their first. Regardless of city, have any of you or anyone you know purchased their first investment property in a similar situation recently? Some questions I have are whether an FHA is even a possibility given the current market or is it going to be really difficult for a first-time investor to get one? Or would a conventional actually be better by putting down, say, 20%, instead for less of a payment? I understand other factors may affect this but just want to get a general idea on your thoughts or strategies.

I recently saw a triplex on my street go up for sale with an ask of $189k. The first day it was available was Tuesday. The Zillow listing, however, had no interior photos. For the price and location, I was guessing it would go fast, although without interior photos, you never know. When I walked outside Tuesday around 5:00 PM, there were cars flooding the street with people checking it out. I was thinking of checking it out before seeing all of the competition but once I saw that, I questioned whether I'd even stand a chance as a first-time investor over many potential buyers who could be paying cash or have better financing options for a property like this. Granted, there may have been a slew of people checking it out since there were no interior photos, but it looked like there was a lot of interest from others with likely much more leverage than me at this point. It's going to be tough for anyone to get into a bidding war, although I think it's an even worse idea for someone just starting out.

The last concern I have is the current interest rates. Has anyone that has recently made a purchase been able to still get some cash flow even with the high rates? Ideally, I'd find myself in a really good spot if I were able to pay the mortgage with the tenant's rent and just have to worry about utilities, but is anyone struggling to even do that with how things are right now? Just wondering if you think this is still a possibility or if it's even plausible to get a little cash flow in these trying times as a beginner.

I would really like to buy sooner than later, as waiting may end up being worse in a year or two. I know no one can predict the future and we can really only go off of trends and historical data, so I'm going to avoid asking the ever-popular question "Should I buy now or wait?" No one can give a sure answer to that. I guess I'm more so asking whether there's hope for aspiring investors interested in buying a first multi-family property in the current market or if it's really impractical at this time. At least I believe location is on my side, as Buffalo seems much more affordable than other big cities. I'm a believer that there's always a way, so would you say all hope isn't lost for someone like me at this time?

Upstate New York, New York

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