Starting Out In Phoenix At 24!

[Jackson Harris]

Hello BP Community!

Been doing a ton of research on REI over the past few months and am ready to pull the trigger next year. I wanted to cover my why and what first to give a good picture of where I'm at current state, with a background and what I'm looking for below.

My why: I recently got married and moved from San Diego to Scottsdale this year. I've realized how much I'd like to spend time with my wife and have time for our kids one day. I've always looked to the stock market or starting my own business to one day reach financial freedom but love what I've seen in real estate more! My goal with REI is to gain financial freedom, spend more time with family here and that are out of town (and therefore cost more to go see), and to be able to buy the things I want ( I love cars and live very close to some luxury auto dealers lol)!

**Disclaimer**: Being young, I don't have a lot of responsibility so I am fine with being more hands on now to be able to have more time to spend with family later on.

My what: I'm looking to buy small multi-family property to house hack and gain equity quickly over the next few years. From there I'd look to refi and use the cash to then acquire STR's or potentially bigger multi-family/apartments. I'm also open to flipping once I have some more funds on hand as I have some friends here I know that could help me with the right contractors to work with and start to make some money that way to get more properties. Overall, my plan is to get as much equity as I can in this market to then invest in more real estate, then optimize in the end for cash flow.

Some background info on me: My wife and I are both 24 years old, each of us make a good living for this area and are fine saving money and living in an apartment with cheap rent at the moment. We've saved about $40k so far but with bonuses at the end of this year from our jobs we should be over $50k very soon. We also save around $3k-$4k a month and are good with our money. We have credit scores over 730 and have been "soft approved" for around $750k. 

Alright, so now you know all about me let's get into where I could use some guidance. I'd love to hear any thoughts on my strategy if you'd stay away from Multi-family or if that's the right call. I'd also like to connect with someone who is in the local market that can offer me some guidance, I'm happy to pay for lunch/coffee/drinks!

Thank you to this community for offering so much help already, I wouldn't have a what or why at all if I hadn't found BP!!

-Jackson

[Noah Corwick]

Hey Jackson!

Way to make this post and put it out into the universe that you are ready to jump into REI.

Getting into multi family in PHX is a bit of a high barrier to entry and the number of options you'd have are super low. For example, there are a grand total of a whopping 34 multi family properties currently on market for under $500k. 

I definitely feel that a house hack strategy is an excellent way to start. It kills many birds with one stone. You can also target a SFH that has a casita or has room for one to be built. They just passed pro ADU laws here. And as this fleshes out and rents continue to rise, I feel like it's only a matter of time till renters are more open to this type of living. Going this route creates a multi family scenario creatively.

Hope this helps!