Looking to start investing -- Nashville, TN

[William Allen]

I'm a recent college graduate working at a tech company in Nashville, TN. I grew up in Nashville and have loved seeing all the recent market growth in recent years.

At the moment, I have a good bit of student loan debt. I should be able to pay it all off in the next 2-3 years based on my annual salary, but I've been looking into ways to supplement my income and get it paid off faster.

My job is fairly standard (45 hours/week) and I have more bandwidth. I have some good connections in the realtor world so I have considered becoming a part time realtor. Do you think this is a good next step to accelerate my student loan payments while learning about the real estate market? Do you have other ideas of how I can make side income while also building some human capital? Thanks!

[Andrew Powers]

Hi William, welcome to BP. I suggest educating yourself as much as possible in parallel with work and whatever side hustle you do. Go to the BP Bookstore tab and there's alot of good content to read up on. Also listen to the BP podcasts.

There's alot of debate on whether investors "should" become realtors or not. I would suggest a forum search for similar topics.

A suggestion for making side income & learning real estate would be to buy your first house to "house hack"... rent out other rooms in the house, or if a duplex+ you can rent out the other unit. Many people on BP (including me) started out this way. If you calculate the number right, you can live for free or even make money above the expenses of owning a home. Either way if you can target to live for free, this removes the cost of renting which is extra savings for paying loans.