New Investor

[Jason King]

Hi All!

I am new to the site and new to real estate investing. I am a financial analyst by trade, but I have always had an interest in real estate. Specifically, a partner and I have made the decision to invest in some rental property. While we have not bought our first investment yet, we are looking to get "all of our ducks in a row" so to speak, so if anyone has any advice for anyone starting out I would greatly appreciate it.

To share more details about our goals, we plan to purchase a 2-3 unit multi-family property, with 2 bedrooms per unit. We are looking for a purchase price of approx. 100-150k, with 20% down and have set aside an additional 10k for repairs. We have our target markets identified and know the market prices for similar rentals in the area(s). Once acquired, we plan to hire a local property management company to handle the day-to-day/emergency management.

Once again, if anyone has any general advice or learned lessons please feel free to share. I look forward to hearing from you!

Jason

[Ali Boone]

My biggest advice, make sure the numbers work! So many people buy rental properties when the cash flow isn't there because they don't realize how to know if cash flow will come from it or that cash flow even can come from it. Know how to run numbers, make sure there is a nice margin of cash flow expected, and make sure you hire a property inspector to ensure the true condition of the property so there will be no secrets. If there does need to be work done, get real estimates to go off of, not guesses. A lot of people like guessing and estimating unnecessarily in this business for some reason.

The numbers are most important and I think one of the biggest things people don't understand. But after you get the numbers, understand that there are more factors that go into what makes a good property too. But start with the numbers :)