Starting out in New Hampshire and Massachusetts

[Michael Jakubowski]

My name is Michael and I am looking to return to real estate. I live in New Hampshire, (a bit north of Concord), and work in Lexington Massachusetts, 70 miles one way. Regardless to say, the commute is killing me. That said, I am willing to travel for a deal, especially if I am working for myself. I dipped my toes in real estate investing when I bought a 3 family in Manchester in 2008. After a few years I got my real estate license to sell that and buy a home for me and my wife (my philosophy was why pay someone else to sell and buy when I could get paid doing it). Regrettably, I let my license lapse. I am considering getting it back.

I am getting very burned out with my job and the associated commute and I have decided fully commit to real estate investing. I know it’ll be a while before I can quit my job, but I know this is the right direction. I am reading and listening to everything I can get my hands on. That said, I have always suffered from “analysis paralysis” and been more of an observer. I’d like to go outside my comfort zone to get a few deals done, whatever they may be to build the confidence. I do not currently have a ton of liquid cash, but I would be willing to take out a loan from my meager 401K to finance a deal if necessary. I do have a bit of information overload at the moment. So I was wondering, hypothetically what would you do as a 40+ year newbie investor in my area (NH or MA) with very limited funds to get the ball rolling? Are there any investors in my area who would be willing to sit down for lunch or dinner (I’m buying) to allow me to pick their brain? Are there any investors in my area that need help on any aspects of their projects that I may work on?

Thank you in advance,

Michael

[Marina Wong]

Hi Michael, 

It is a difficult thing for people to transition into real estate while holding a full-time job. I was lucky that I got laid off after 9/11 and so can transition into real estate with my unemployment pay supporting me. Of course it helps to have a spouse working full-time as well.

I now invest in multiple things in real estate and have four different kinds of passive income streams related to real estate ( well being a landlord is not as passive as most people think but tax wise is still considered a passive income unless you elect to be a real estate professional, which could have other not so good tax consequence).

 It’s getting very difficult to find good deals in Massachusetts within 30 minutes from me. In fact New Hampshire could be a better place for you . I am thinking of looking into New Hampshire‘s market as well.  I am meeting with an investor who is doing opportunity zone investment in Manchester today. That’s one of the area you can look into if you had a lot of gain from stock market in the past couple years. Feel free to PM me for any questions.

However, I do agree with Sean that you could house hack a multi family in Massachusetts that’s closer to work.  Once you save in commute time, you can use that time to look for more deals. Lowell and Dracut  Area should have something that will work for you number wise. 

 One size does not fit all.  Other peoples investment strategies may or may not fit your investment goal. The best really is to see what other people are doing and evaluate whether that’s a good choice for you. Besides, the strategy that works for you now may not be the best strategy that will work for you in 10 years. Biggerpockets is definitely the place to learn.