Finding my First Deal

[Eric Sender]

Hi Everyone,

I am a San Diego CA, white-collar worker (not in the real estate industry) and have not bought any property yet. The San Diego market is so expensive, I pretty much terrifies me. This could be due to me having no experience in real estate at all.

That said, I do have a bit of savings -- I have been working professionally for 8 years. A friend of mine has gotten into buying REI multi-family rentals in Kansas City and I like the idea of doing the same. I figure, the process of getting into REI's will have me learn the ropes in working with agents, brokers, lenders, etc.

That said, I am looking for advise on what markets to start in? I know there is a marketplace forum here on bigger pockets, but I there is also Zillow and RedFin, etc.

My goals are:

• Find properties that will cost me about $20-25k each in terms of down payment and any fees
  • No rehab properties and no expectation of appreciation, just something that can be rented out
• Creation a positive $200/mo cash-flow (more the better obviously)
• Most likely out of state from California
• Managed remotely (ideally, I never need to even visit the property)
• Develop a great relationship with a lender who will help in future deals as well as my eventual home for myself/family!
• Start the momentum to eventually buy more properties
  • Then eventually get into bigger and bigger deals
  • (I did read the 7 Years eBook - 7 years sounds good to me!)
• I believe REI Rentals are the easiest ways to start out, but also the slowest
  • I think I'd eventually like to find rehabs - however as my first REI, I think flipping a rehab may be too much coordination and too much of a time crunch
  • (Let me know if you disagree)

Anyway, obviously I am a newbie, so I could have misinterpreted things and be setting myself up for trouble. Any advice would be great!