Guidance for a Young Investor

[Samantha A.]

Hi everyone, I am a young investor seeking out guidance on my first deal. I've been educating myself for over a year on real estate investing, but feel that I'm stuck in analysis paralysis. I highly value any advice experience investors and have been really enjoying these forums. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and input! 

I am twenty-three years old and living in central Florida. I am self employed and have always been an entrepreneur. I currently run two woodworking businesses, and have saved as much as possible since a young age. The thing is, I've never invested in anything but myself and the businesses I create. I have about 100k saved and have never had any debt. I find that because of my age, I'm never taken very seriously when I seek out guidance with real estate investing. I've heard a lot of - 'it's harder than you think', 'it will not give you good returns', etc. While I know all of this is untrue, I'd really love to hear from someone who believes in investing at a young age. 

As I mentioned, I am a woodworker, so I spend about 8 hours each day listening to podcasts. Everything from Bigger Pockets, Listen Money Matters, Smart Passive Income, and Robert Kiyosaki. I read everything I can and am incredibly eager to get the ball rolling. If I have a plan and direction, I always go full force. If there's anything else I can do to educate myself, I'd love to hear your input.

My long term goal is to generate passive income through buy and hold rental properties. I'm comfortable investing out of state, but would be more comfortable with an intial investment in Florida. I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty with fixing up rentals, as my partner and I are experienced with a variety of construction. Between the two of us, we are experienced with soffit, siding, roofing, flooring installation, carpentry, etc. We can cover a lot of bases together. I'm also open to fix and flip, but feel that it might be a safer idea to start that further down the line with a bit more experience under my belt.

I'm also interested in being an investor toward fix and flips that other individuals are handling. How would I seek out investing in this? What path would you recommend that I take?

One last thing - I would love to be a homeowner. I run my businesses out of my garage right now, and pull in about 80-90k / year. It would be wonderful to own my own home and workspace. Especially with the noise I create from power tools, I would be able to insulate my yard with more foliage to absorb the sound. While I don't plan for this to be a lifelong career, I expect to do it for at least a few more years or make it part-time someday. The real goal is to have a full income stream from real estate (at least 100k/year), and then pursue other small businesses on the side for enjoyment. While I'd love to be a homeowner, I would dish out at least 325k to purchase a home in my area, and I feel that investing this in rental properties would be a better direction. What do you all think? What would be the most lucrative way to invest?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post - I would love to answer any further questions and hear what you all think!

[Dwayne Byrd]

Hello @Samantha A. I am a real estate agent / investor / flipper who lives in Palm Bay. There are a variety of options you could go. As mentioned, you could find a multi-family unit to get purchase. You could also use what you currently have to purchase multiple properties (if you feel that your woodworking etc needs more space and wouldn't work well with a tenant next door. I have some lenders that can help get primary residences with conventional mortgages for very low down - as low as 1 percent. From there you could venture out and purchase a couple other units putting between 10 and 20 percent down that could bring in additional money (you could technically buy multiple properties).

My business partner and I are currently finishing up 2 flips, have one more under contract and are looking for another if you ever want to connect and come see what we are doing. We love helping BP members. I have helped several purchase SF and Multifamily units in the area. I'm an open book, let me know how I could help.