Advice for a military member starting out?

Question

Hi, I just found this site and I think it is awesome.  I posted on reiclub.com but I havent gotten much response so I was wondering if anyone on here could help me out.

A little about me, I am a 25 year old 1st Lt in the United States Marine Corps, currently in Corpus Christi TX for flight school.  I have enjoyed investing/anything entrepreneurial since I was a kid.  A few months ago the scales fell off of my eyes and I realized a logical step would be to get into real estate.  I found a good REIA club....and moved the next week.  Now I'm here in Corpus which doesnt have a club and I have been either swamped by flight school or lazy in my off time.

Recently I kicked myself back into gear, got preapproved for an fha and talked a little to a realtor I know but now I am kind of hitting a wall.  I will probably only be in Corpus for another 3 or 4 months and my next station for a year maybe, after that, things should slow down a but but I want to start acquiring rentals now. However reading more it sounds like a good plan for newbies is to work birddogging / wholesaling to learn the ropes.  Again me being an active duty Marine and in an intense school, my free time is limited.  Is birddogging / wholesaling something I can pursue part time?

Also, up until a few days ago I was pretty much set on going for the nice area of town $180 -200,000 homes to ensure better renters, most likely transient military like me vs the cheaper homes near the local university which I figured would get torn up more as I will be moving and need to have a management company look after them.  But I really hate the idea of having a huge mortgage like that.  Has got me thinking about cheaper options?

I guess through this long convaluted post, besides what I wrote there,
1. What ways do you get financing besides normal/fha mortgages.  I have read about seller financing etc, viable options?
2. With my time contstraints what is the best way to get into this game we call real estate.
3.  What do you think about going for the nicer but more expensive neighborhoods vs cheaper but more maintenance options?

Thanks to all.

p.s. I hate making newbie posts because I know somewhere yall have already answered these questions but I appreciate your time for doing it again.

Timothy W. · Answer

Sam,
I give military discounts on my rent to servicemen, their families and their widowed families.  Thank you for your service.  Your investment of blood keeps our market secure.  I'll gladly extend the same courtesy to you in information.  My phone number is on my profile.  Call me any time and I'll give you all the time you need to answer anything within my area of knowledge and I won't b.s. you about the things I don't know.

I was heavily considering a move to Corpus Christi as it appeared to have some pretty good numbers on the rental market (that and I like Texans).

Tim

Anthony Larson · Answer

sir I would learn the 50% rule they hae on here (do a search) and read about how to find good deals. ie motivated sellers. A lot fo times the realtors properties for single family homes are overpriced to make room for negotiatinon and still they won't go low enough to make a deal able to cash flow.

Barry O. · Answer

You already have the best input a PCS move every 2-3 years going to some of the best rental markets the us has to offer. Buy at least one house at every station and by the time you hit 20 you can do whatever you want.
Thanks for serving and Semper Fi!

Samuel Ksiazkieicz · Answer

Thanks for the responses Gents, I appreciate all your input.  I made this post because I am looking for advice on beginning my REI career.  I was planning on going right in and purchasing a nice 3/2 or 3/3 home between 150-200 but then reading, lot of people recommended starting basic i.e. birddogging or wholesaling.  Any thoughts as I wont be able to give this a ton of my time depending on my schedule.

Rodolphe Brun · Answer

One advise, don't buy huge house try to stick with 2 bedrooms. The reason is that if you rent bigger home, you will have bigger family and that usually means more broken things to fix when they move out. Also if you can rent to your fellow marines you will have better chance to keep it clean.

Calvin N. · Answer

Samuel,  I bought my first place as a 2LT while attending flight school at Ft Rucker, AL.  Do you think you may be stationed back in Corpus Christi?  I bought a small townhouse and it was a great little rental for many years.  It worked out that I was stationed back at Rucker and it became available so I moved back in while there for another year of training.  Talk to your realtor and see what type properties are most desirable in that area.  Where I live now 3/2 bath are the best rentals.  In some locations 2 BR maybe more in demand.  Find out what your market wants and go from there.  Best of luck!

Samuel Ksiazkieicz · Answer

Jim
haha my time can go from being very limited to free time, it all depends on luck, randomness, weather, Uncle Sam etc, so unfortunately I cannot make a real schedule at this time.  Once school is done, little over a year, then I will have a normal schedule but not right now.  That said, I want to work hard and get into real estate in some manner NOW, Im trying to bone up on bird dogging as that seems flexible and simple for someone with no experience.  I havent explored any other financing because I have no experience in this type of investing and wasnt sure it was the wisest choice to just jump straight into landlording, but maybe it is, go big or go home eh?

Jim Francis · Answer

Thanks for your service Samuel!  I think the first thing that would be helpful in answering your question would be to get a better idea of exactly what your time constraints look like.  I know they are limited, but how limited are we talking?

Have you done any exploration of private money and hard money for financing?

I realize that I haven't answered any of your questions, but I thought my questions might help the others when they jump in to help out.

As others like to say, welcome to the BP Nation!

Alex Gates · Answer

Hi,
          
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Advice for a military member starting out?

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