How did you recognize that you've found your first property?

[Anthony Siconolfi]

How did you know when to pull the trigger for your first property? 

Financial Stability: What financial milestones or stability measures did you want to achieve before making the purchase? Did you have a specific budget or savings goal in mind?

Market Analysis: How did you analyze the real estate market trends? Were there specific signs or indicators that made you confident about the timing?

Risk Assessment: What kind of risks did you consider before making the decision? How did you mitigate these risks, and what factors contributed to your confidence in your choice?

Exit Plan: Did you have an exit plan before purchasing your first rental property?

[Henry Clark]

Never get hung up on one property.  Always be prepared to walk away.  Have at least three potential properties that work.   Then prioritize.  Put 3 day offers and go down the list.   The market and your situation is always changing.  

Always calculate failure.   Or your risk exposure.  

[Ali Nichols]

Some initial thoughts / how I looked at things: 

Financial Stability --> could I float minimum of 3 months comfortably if it was not rented? 

Market analysis --> Similar to the stock market don't get hung up on perfect timing. It comes down to horizon and macro economic fundamentals. So long as you are not looking to get in and get out and you are in it for long term, let time do it's thing. Now if you are considering flipping or any type of renting, depending on your market be cognizant of seasonality. 

Risk Assessment: Comes down to personal preference and situation. But of course different strategies have different risk levels (i.e. older homes, short term vs long term rentals, etc.)

[Travis Timmons]

First, there is no "the one"; you'll sell them all someday.

As for financial stability, I made sure that I had the financial stability to pay the mortgage even if it never made a dime (for the first one). After that, it was planning, putting in offers, and then freaking out when the offer was accepted. I've never felt anything but nervous and that "what did I just do?" feeling after an offer was accepted and/or after I closed on a property. You never really know what you have until you own it for awhile. Inspections are necessary and great, but they don't reveal everything. That's normal. You can never know everything about a property in a 10-15 due diligence period. 

Risk assessment - find a comparable property that seems to be renting well that you think you can outperform. For example, on our first short term rental, we found a comp on the same street that looked like 2 college dudes furnished it from goodwill. It was printing cash to the tune of about $700/night in the summer. That made me feel comfortable spending the money and going all in. If that loser could make money, there's no way we fail. I'd always look to that guy's calendar when I was freaking out and bleeding cash. 

With each successive deal, I became more confident. I'm a fan of finding something that works and repeating that thing many times. 

Exit plan - you have no idea how it is actually going to go if you are starting out. Focus more on what it will rent for and how long it will take you to rent it. Baby steps...

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Anthony Siconolfi:

How did you know when to pull the trigger for your first property? 

Financial Stability: What financial milestones or stability measures did you want to achieve before making the purchase? Did you have a specific budget or savings goal in mind?

Market Analysis: How did you analyze the real estate market trends? Were there specific signs or indicators that made you confident about the timing?

Risk Assessment: What kind of risks did you consider before making the decision? How did you mitigate these risks, and what factors contributed to your confidence in your choice?

Exit Plan: Did you have an exit plan before purchasing your first rental property?

 VERY simple, I ran the numbers, that's ALL that matters, 

[Sam Yin]

@Anthony Siconolfi

I have never found "the one". There has never been a perfect property. I have found properties that I was willing to invest my time and money in.

But if I was allowed to be loose with the term of the perfect property... The old lady has been my perfect property. She was always the one.

Seriously, I have never wasted my time to find the perfect property. I still keep searching for the most profitable in my current state, whenever that time is.