Full Blown Newb - Houston, TX

[Sarah Preston]

Hi! My husband and I have always planned to use REI as a means for early(ish) retirement. We're in the saving phase and we're about 1/2 way to having a nest egg of 6 months of expenses. We were almost there but got sidelined with a crazy expensive AC/Furnace replacement in the home we own. The good news is, we were able to pay cash to fix it!

Current plan is to save $ for a down payment on an investment property for the next year while I shore up my knowledge on the business and the local market. I found Chad Carson's ep on the BP Real Estate podcast about using real estate to retire early and I'm about 90% through his book as of right now. 

We're looking to buy something in late 2019 or early 2020. My husband is very risk averse and I think we'll probably be more "slow and steady" than high risk quick climbers. (We both graduated from college at the beginning of the crash so we know how tough things can get in a downturn.) We both have good jobs and we're almost living on one income. I'm planning on revising our budget so we can bank my full income in 2019 which would give us about 40k+ cash to play with if all goes well. I have a wonderful Real Estate agent who we bought our current home through and I trust, so I am planning to seek his advice on market strategy. I have also seen good advice in the forums on getting involved with the local REIA, so I'm planning to do that.

Do you guys have any other advice for a new investor in the Houston market? (We live in North Spring near 99.) Neither of us are handy so while fix and flip seems attractive to get a jump on our REI career, I'm not sure it's the best plan for us with no handiness and no current contractor contacts. Right now, my thought is to purchase a small multi-family unit (duplex or triplex) as a long term hold. Not quite sure farther than that. Does this strategy seem sound? Is it "too safe"? Is there a better way I could go about it? These forums have been wonderful and any advice is much appreciated!