New investor looking to make start investing in 3 months

[Aaron Pope]

My name is Aaron Pope. I'm in Indianapolis, IN and I'm just now starting the learning phase of real estate investing. I'm looking to build cash flow through rental properties for now. I'll look to expand in the future but currently looking to buy and rent out half a duplex while living in the second half and having the rent pay for my mortgage. I don't have any money in savings nor is my credit very good at the moment but I believe there are ways around these challenges any help from someone with more experience would be very appreciated!

I just started reading through the forum here and one theme I see already is that i need a team! I've looked for meetups but also want to see if there's anyone on here that I could pick their brain if possible. Thank you for taking your time this! Hope to hear from you soon!

[Andre Jernigan]

Hey how is it going Aaron! First of all to start off welcome to BiggerPockets. I am always glad to see fellow Hoosiers here on the forums. I am from up in Fort Wayne actually but absolutely love Indianapolis and how much has changed there. 

Househacking is by far one of the best ways to get started if you ask me. No only are you able to cut out one of the most expensive portions of your monthly/ annual budget, but you are also beginning to add to your portfolio at the same time. At the same time you get to learn the ins and outs and gain experience managing properties and being a landlord. One of the keys to success for househacking is calculating the numbers conservatively and making sure the property properly cashflows.

One of the most important things to do starting out is making sure you take the time to educate yourself properly. I personally am an advocate of making sure you know enough in order to invest intelligently. I started off reading everything I could get my hands on in the forums as well as books that were often recommended. I believe one of the things that I have found is that continuing to learn as much as I can has allowed me to start to focus on the what I want to work toward in the future as far as where I want to concentrate on in investing. Adding to this I would say start interacting with other investors that are doing what you want to do. The best way to do this would be through these forums and finding ways to add value to those individuals. As intimidating as it may seem, many investors here in this community are open to help others out including new investors. So never feel shy to ask questions here, I hope this helps!