New college graduate in rural Southwest Virginia

[Jordan Bales]

As the title states I just graduated,early, from the University of Virginia in December with a bachelors in Statistics-econometrics. Thankfully I found a job near my home town in Southwest Virginia working in IT as a business analyst. I make very good money for the area; approximately 50k.  I discovered bigger pockets one day on youtube, and ever since I have been working my way through all the episodes including the most recent releases. 

I have always wanted to be involved in real estate since I was in middle school. I laid my first hardwood floor at age 12 with my dad in my childhood home and realized how much value it added to the house. The diy projects snowballed into my first job which was at LOWES, working in electrical and lumber. My passion even helped put me through college as I worked for contractors and electricians during the summer.  Needless to say I understand how to remodel a house. 

Finally my question for the forum that I would appreciate any members input on. "How do I get started with my situation?" I have read all the articles on house hacking and I am perfectly fine with the idea; the issue is there aren't duplexes in my town. I could simply move to a more populated small town not far away, Abingdon, Virginia however there aren't really duplexes there either. My next feasible option would be the BRRR strategy, but that is dangerous here as the entire area relies on one industry for its economic prosperity, coal. When coal is on the rise, as it is currently the economy is decent, but when it goes down, as it did the past eight years, it is like a ghost town with houses sitting on the market for years.

With my skill set I feel comfortable doing any job that isn't structural myself. I am able to learn almost anything after two youtube videos, and it has yet to fail me.  That being said I have ran businesses before, currently in  E-commerce, and I realize the importance of outsourcing and systems.  

Other details that might be helpful: 1)There is no local REIA. 2) I save roughly a grand a month. 3) House prices here are pennies on the dollar.

Basically this entire post can be summed up to the question "Based on these details what strategies should I consider to get started in Real estate.  

Thanks in advance!

[Arpan Patel]

Then maybe look outside of your area because coal's biggest issue is natural gas and secondarily automation. I don't think we would limit gas production just to being back coal jobs even with gasification and cleaner tech. In the event your real estate is tied to one trick economic areas, it may be worth your while to take a look at some other areas that have a mix of industries. What about Knoxville or Charlottle. Then there are all of the college in North Carolina you might not be too far away from you could try as well. I still like the BRRRR but in an area you can rely on for decades