Personal finances and moving forward

[Claudio Golia]

Good morning.

As a potential REI, I have been going over my finances very carefully to determine if I'm in a good position to move forward. I have some cash reserves, put away for a rainy day in addition to lines of credit that are currently have no balances.

I put a great deal of $ into my 401K and brokerage account, so there's some potential to tap into those if I needed to, but I'm not sure that's the best idea at this point.

My main debt is my home that I purchased in 2008, when property was on the higher end and then tanked. Therefore, I have little equity in my home due to my LTV. I'd like to sell my home and get something smaller, and then use the savings from the decreased mortgage to put towards investing, but that doesn't seem likely without a considerable loss. Right now I'm staying put.

I do have two car loans and a small student loan, that I am paying down as quickly as possible and hope to be done with them in the next couple of years,

Outside of the home and the auto/student, I have no other debt.

Although I am anxious to get started, my thought is that I should probably wait and try to get out of my current home and downsize. I can then invest the savings into another property or perhaps buy a duplex/triplex and occupy one of the units.

I can probably make it work financially, now and not wait, but things that worry me is coming up with a lot of cash that could result in tapping me out early in the game. For instance a 20% down payment, fixing or repairing a property.

I understand that there will always be risk (as with any investment) and you need to put in money to make money, but I'm just trying to do my due diligence and make sure I'm making the best decisions without letting my excitement blind me.

All that said, what would be the best course of action? Wait or get started? I understand that I ultimately need to make that decision. I'm just looking to hear from folks who have been in a similar circumstance and how they chose to move forward to fulfill their goals.

Thanks.