Hi All!

I posted several weeks ago when my curiosity was first piqued in the world of Real Estate. Now, I've developed a more defined plan that has me in the market within the next 1-2 years for my first rental property. I am a recent graduate of the University of Rhode Island, and my roommate (and also longtime friend from college) and I are quickly preparing to purchase our first property.

We were both fortunate enough to acquire well-paying jobs straight out of college, and being bachelors, have very little expenses (though student loan payments kick in starting in December so that's another expense to be factored into all of this). We plan to up our savings rates as high as possible over the next 12-18 months to put away money for a downpayment on either a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, depending on what the market conditions will be like a year or two from now (if we need to push the 18 months out to 24 months, we are okay with that too if it means finding a better deal later on).

For me, personally, I plan on maxing out my yearly contributions to a Roth IRA my father and I set up when I was 16 (I'm now 23 and my portfolio has been performing outstandingly). Between now and December, I'm planning on stowing away as close to $1,000 of my monthly income into savings until the student loan payments become a factor, then I will readjust my status accordingly (hopefully not too much will change, as my father has agreed to help me pay the loans down quicker come February, bless his soul!)

I already have $3,000 put away in savings, so by December, as long as no unexpected expenses present themselves, I should have around $7,000 put into my savings. My roommate, who makes more than I do, will be pursuing a similar strategy. We are moving into a new rental tomorrow that is a one year lease, so as of tomorrow, the countdown clock to buying our first property will begin. I am confident that by this time next year, we will have enough money saved in conjunction with one another to put a decent down payment on a multi-family home. My credit is a few ticks below excellent (and again, I'm confident that with my personal finance abilities, I can get it into the "Excellent" range within the next year), so we plan to take an FHA loan out, as we will be living in our owner-occupied rental.

Some criteria we have for potential properties:

- As mentioned before, we are looking for duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes

- We ideally would like the location to be within 20-minute driving distance to North Kingstown (both of our places of work)

- A property that either breaks even, or produces some sort of cash flow (obviously!)

If any of you reading this are from the Rhode Island area and would like to connect, please reach out as I'm trying my hardest to immerse myself into this community and Real Estate at large! I figured since I can't make any moves currently, the next best thing is to educate myself to the best of my availability in order to "sharpen my axe" for what is to come. Thank you in advance if you've read this far, and I look forward to seeing the feedback/response as time goes on!