First Actionable Steps

[Dylan Haines]

Hello all

I've been doing my best to get educated as quickly as possible, from the forums, blogs and podcasts mainly.  I was hoping that you all could provide some guidance on how I should get started in my current situation.  

I'm moving to the area I would like to begin investing in (Charleston, SC) in about 5 months.  I'm looking to buy a cash flowing multifamily for my first investment. I'd consider buying a distressed home to live in and fix up at the same time, but I plan to use military loans and I believe the "livability"of the property requirements on those are pretty stringent. 

So what are the steps I should be taking now? Save up as much money for my down payment as possible, or should I be saving that for cash reserves and hope to use an FHA or VA loan instead of the down payment? Should I be looking on realtor.com or other property websites and running numbers on deals to get a feel for the area, or should I be looking for the right investor real estate agent that will help me narrow down my deals? What are some other sources I could learn from in the next 5 months (specific books, supremely helpful blog posts that I may have missed)? Should I look for ways to start out-of-state investing? I know the Charleston area alright, but also am familiar with some small towns in Washington state and Tucson AZ, so should I look to begin my investment career in a different region?

Reading and listening to everything that I have has been a little overwhelming.  It just seems that I don't quite know enough to just jump right in, but everything that I'm looking at is giving me the same information that I've already learned.  Maybe it's just because I have a wait period before I think I can put these new tools to use, and I'm getting a little anxious, but if anyone has any tips on other things that I can be doing now, that will help me in the near future, it would be a tremendous help! Thank you.

Dylan Haines

[Troy Gandee]

Hey @Dylan Haines

Welcome to BP and the world of real estate investing! I'm a Realtor and an investor and I would be happy to help you out. I do 2-4 rehabs per year through my company and I try to collect as many rentals as I can. I represent a lot of retail buyer and sellers, but I work with an awful lot of investors and I understand that aspect very well. You do need to be careful in making certain that your Realtor and lender understand the FHA and VA processes. I help a lot of young people buy with FHAs and a lot of my rehabs end up being bought with VA funds. Charleston is a great market. We're experiencing a lot of growth pretty soon and there is a lot of opportunity here. With that being said, this can also be a very competitive market because of the number of people moving here and the fact that we keep winning all of these "best city" awards.

I would keep digging through BP as far as education goes. There are some beginner's guides here. Brandon and Josh have also authored books with other people that are available to purchase and they're absolutely worth the money. You can find those on Amazon. I would go through Amazon and pick out a bunch of $1.00 books that you can download in the beginning. A lot of them are redundant, but they'll stamp the basics into your head. Then you can start reading more in-depth books. You should also read a few entrepreneurial books that will help you with mindset and productivity.

As far as the property stuff goes, I would definitely utilize that VA loan, if you can. You're correct that VA loans are very stringent. Essentially, any rehab property is pretty much off the table for either the VA or FHA. If you can find something that is just outdated, you could use the FHA or VA, but you're probably not going to get much of a deal if it's just an outdated home. I would utilize that VA or FHA to try to get into a 2-4 unit with little money down. You're probably young enough that you can wait a while until that property starts to really generate some income. At the very least, you can live for very cheap. In most cases, you need cash or assets to leverage to be very successful with purchasing, rehabbing and selling homes. You should read something like the book on investing in real estate with no and low money down by Brandon Turner to try to find some clever ways to invest without a lot of cash. Start trying to network with some private money lenders and start chatting up your circle of influence if you're interested in finding a PML. Everyone has a rich uncle somewhere. The big thing is not to analyze things so much that you paralyze yourself. You need to make yourself actionable items each day and work to complete them until you find yourself diving in.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!