Changing Directions, Advice Welcome

[Justin Morris]

My name is Justin Morris and I've been on BP for about 8 months now and continue to learn as much as I can for the amazing people here. In the past 6 months I've dived into a lease purchase and actually have two properties under contract at the moment. The NY market is very difficult right now though and I'm not having much luck in finding a tenant/buyer for either of the properties. I wanted to use lease purchase to build some capital because I don't have any right now, but in the NY market it's seems pretty hard to do that. I'm not giving up on moving these properties but now I've decided to go in a different direction. I want to build a rental portfolio that will support my wife and myself for life. I know it'll be hard work and a long road but I am committed. My wife and I are about to go work on a cruise ship which will allow us to have no living expenses, pay down debit and start building a rental portfolio. It'll probably take a good year before I have some money to buy my first property, but I'm wondering if there is any advice you can give me or suggestions on how I can prepare myself before I can pull the trigger. Obviously there is no predicting what the market will be like in a year but I'll have the flexibility to go to wherever the market it hot and purchase a property in between my contracts on the ship. I want my first property to be a 3/1 with a purchase price of 100k or less that is in need of 10-15k in rehab costs. I'll have about 25k to put down on a property and plan to finance the rest with a traditional 30 year mortgage. I would love any advice that you could give a 25 year old looking to start building serious wealth with REI and secure my families financial future.

Thank You

[Ned Carey]

Perhaps the number one thing to know is how to asses value of a deal. If you don't know what a deal is worth how do you know if you have a good deal? Learn how to run the numbers for a rental and know your market inside out.

If you know the values that well you will have the confidence to pull the trigger when you see the right deal.

Also keep marketing and looking for deals. You may get lucky and find an owner financed deal or some other situation that allows you to purchase sooner that you though otherwise. good luck - Ned