Where A Newbie Out Of College Can Go

[Justin Minikes]

I’m 4 years out of college and have approximately $30K+ saved up in my bank account. I am looking for a strategy to get into real estate investing, but not sure where to take it. I am currently living in an apartment, have great credit, and a middle class income (around $80,000-90,000 annually). I live in the Dallas- Fort Worth Area and currently work for a production builder. What’s the best way to get started if you were in my position? I have a construction background, know good contractors and have some capital. 

Appreciate any advice in advance

[Erik W.]

Hi Justin.

Probably the first decision to make is if you want to try being a land lord (long-term) or a flipper/wholesaler (short-term).  Each has pluses and minuses and completely different strategies for locating suitable property for investment.
Next, you'll want to decide if you want to try single family or multi-family.  I would start with SF since you will be dealing with more predictable purchase and sales prices and more choices for your exit strategy.  SF lends itself well to long-term or short-term, because you can either rent to tenants or sell to other investors, or sell to owner-occupants.  Multi-family is usually not attractive to owner-occupants, unless they are house-hackers like we see here on BP!

In either scenario, I would start out with buying and fixing a distressed property.  Since you have a background in construction, odds are you can get a better purchase price and negotiate the fix up costs with more experience to make a better deal overall.

Then you can sell it or rent it out.  Either way can make you some decent money.  Do the first one, and if you like it, on to the next deal.