New to Investing. Looking for guidance

[Khyati Zala]

I'm a nurse practitioner looking to broaden my financial horizons. I've been following BP for years and I think it's time to take a leap into investing. The New York market seems really difficult to break into since the prices here are outrageous. I do have many ties in Puerto Rico and ultimately would like to move down there. I know the short term rental market is hot and am wondering what's the best way to start out. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[James Carlson]

@Khyati Zala

Congrats on what will be a big step. My wife and I are closing on a property in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in a few months. If you'd asked me five years ago if I'd ever own anything outside the continental U.S., I would have said, "No way." But the process wasn't actually that tough.

A few thoughts, none of them groundbreaking:

-- Find a real estate agent you like in PR. This will be the source of your best guidance.

-- Buy AirDNA access to Airbnb/STR data for Puerto Rico. This will give you some good eagle-eye insight into the market.

-- Also, just peruse around Airbnb's site looking at listings, seeing what rates look like.

 Our Puerto Vallarta vacation rental will do alright for us, but we bought it with two goals in mind -- 1. investment and 2. personal use -- and I'd say the latter was an even bigger consideration for us. This site is great, but sometimes the emphasis on cash flow, cap rates, cash-on-cash misses the point that there are other goals with real estate than purely squeezing the most money out of it.

Good luck!