New hopeful buy and hold real estate investor in Fort Wayne

[David Rosenbeck]

Hello everyone!

Finally making my first post. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and watching YouTube videos when it comes to real estate investing and I am hoping to just post my whole story here and gain some insight from others and their perspective of my current situation. This will be a relatively long post so I apologize in advance!

I’m 26 years old and I graduated last May as a Nurse Practitioner and I am currently working within a major health system in Fort Wayne, IN. I am happy with my compensation from this job but have always been a dreamer and always wanted “more” looking into what I could do next. Within the last few months with the Covid Crisis I have been doing a lot of reading and came across real estate. I always thought that real estate would be something that I would like to get involved in. The buy and hold cash flow is very appealing to me since I have a lot of time for my investments to grow and take advantage of compounding interest. I recently picked up both Rich Dad Poor Dad as well as The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner as well as listening to the BP Podcast from the beginning and I’m already on #30! Both books were excellent and the podcast has had a lot of great information. 

I guess the main goal of this post is just to see what someone else in my situation would do as a first step. I’m fortunate enough to be making $110K+ per year with my job (I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging just want to paint the whole picture for everyone so you have the entire story) but obviously have a significant amount of student loans as well as a mortgage and other expenses. My wife and I originally purchased our home in Dec of 2018 for $131k and it was owned by a 95 year old gentleman so it was very dated. We have since put in wood laminate floors throughout, remodeled both the guest bathroom as well as the master, and improved the kitchen. With the area that we are in, I think that we would be able to easily sell our home for $160 and I would probably honestly like to ask for $170k and see what happens.

So my dilemma is this. I work in Fort Wayne and commute an hour one way currently. My wife and I would like to get into real estate and I know that many people suggest house hacking as a way to dip your toes into the world of REI. For the right duplex, I think that my wife and I would enjoy house hacking. The only problem is should I refinance my current home due to the forced appreciation and possibility of rental income? We are in a very rural area and I don't believe that anyone would be willing to pay $1,600/month in rent to meet the 1% rule. So would I be better off selling, take the money and put it towards purchasing and renovating a duplex, house hacking it until we can generate enough capital for the next deal? I'm sorry if this is all very novice but I am very new to this and would like some expert opinions.

Also, would any of you suggest any of this during this current economic climate with the Covid crisis? I know that many have been saying that they estimate that there will be many good deals to be had in 6 months or so. So first step would be to find a good real estate agent to set up a MLS search for deals in the area. I would love to hear from anyone who has any experience with real estate agents in the Fort Wayne area that invest in real estate themselves.

My main goals and what I would like to achieve out of real estate is what I believe many of you are hoping to achieve and that is financial independence. I am fortunate enough that I do enjoy my job and working with patient’s within my office in the Cancer Institute is very rewarding so I am not necessarily in this to quit my job but would like to have the peace of mind to know that I could quit if I wanted to. I have never been introduced to thinking financially savvy until I read Rich Dad Poor Dad and it made me realize that essentially everyone I know owns little to no assets. I guess my ultimate goal would be to be able to go down to part time at my current job as a nurse practitioner and supplement my income with passive cash flow from my assets so I can eventually spend more time with family and have more freedom. As I said before, I enjoy my job and am not looking to quit and solely depend on real estate cash flow. I’m not sure if this will be a help or hinderance to me since I won’t feel the hunger and pressure that I’m sure many feel that wish to quit their job so they know they need to work twice as hard as the next guy. 

Sorry I just started rambling but I think that this is the first time I’ve tried to put down into words what has been going through my head. As I said before, I would just love to hear back from some others who may be in similar situations and be able to ask questions and learn from them. Thank you everyone so much in advance. It means the world to have access to such a vast pool of knowledge and have people willing to help those just starting out. 

Thanks again, 

David