Living in New York, Considering Out of State Investments

[Ali Syed]

I am 30, single and currently live in long island, NY. I'm currently in a very forgiving circumstance, where I am living for free at my family's home. I've saved a good amount of money this past year and due to covid, I am working remotely, indefinitely. SO I do have a fair amount of flexibility now more than ever before and with that i'd like to take advantage of my current situation. 

I'm new to a lot of the real estate world (recently purchased Brandon Turner's book - love it!); I have yet to establish a real estate investment strategy that works perfectly for me. While I am studying and reading, I don't want to run into "analysis paralysis", and believe in learning as I go. The reason I'm posting here, I'd love to get any advice from this incredible community on where I can begin (would love to meet for coffee or over a zoom call to network with ya!). 

Essentially, considering my situation, should I be looking for a "buy and hold" multi tenant home in my backyard (long island, the boroughs, jersey) or should I consider out of state investments (i've been surveying Philly, Durham, Raleigh). I could house hack, but again, I really don't mind taking advantage of living at my family's home for free for the time being and renting out every unit in the first home that I find. 

Very intrigued to read responses and experiences anyone else may have gone through!

Cheers

[Anna Swartz-Lopez]

Hi Ali, 

Welcome to the real estate game! The important thing to remember is that real estate is a team game. You are going to need a network of professionals to handle the many different aspects of real estate investing. You are on the right track looking for community. Look for real estate meetups, there is a lot of good information available for free out there, and right now all these meetings are virtual. Also, it can be helpful to come alongside an experienced investor and try to work with them in some way.

To figure out your strategy, you need to figure out what you are and are not willing to deal with. Are you going to start as a fix and flipper, and build cash that way? Are you going to invest in buy and hold property and build equity more slowly, but with far less hassle? If you like your current job, and are happy with your living situation, that might be a really easy way to start. 

As for whether to invest in your location, or investing out of state, you do live in a very expensive part of the country. Investing out of state may be an easier entry point for you. If you do that though, it is very important that you get support and invest time in building your network. I recommend continuing looking here at Bigger Pockets. There are a lot of experienced investors here, and the big conference that we just had a month ago was a great way to see what other investors are doing in different parts of the country. 

My recommendation is to keep educating yourself and to try and build your network!