Seeking some start-up advice?

Question

I am seeking real estate investing start-up advice in the Atlanta, GA area.

I currently work as a structural engineer for my full-time job, but I hoping to get my feet wet in the real estate investing game within the next 6 months to start gaining some assets!

Me and my future investment partner, Luke, want to learn more about different investment strategies and what we should seek out with a limited start up budget, such as best type of deal for an inexperienced beginner, best type of start-up property, signs of a soon to be thriving location, etc.

We also want to increase our “financial intelligence” more before diving in, because once we get our feet wet with property #1 we anticipate we will be hungry for property #2 and the snowball will begin to roll.

I have checked out the GA REIA site for upcoming meetings, but they all appear to be during working hours.

Please send me a connection request if you are in the local market. I would love to discuss some of these items more with you!

Thanks,

Ben Scarborough

Will Fraser · Answer

Hey @Ben Scarborough, welcome back to the Biggerpockets forums!

From a few years down this road I would recommend a path that I once though foolish:

• House-hack as much as you can.  Start now, and rinse and repeat annually for as long as you can handle it.
• Put the rest of your available investment funds into REITs and syndications
•

It's not the path that looks super sexy like an aggressive business plan and an audacious unit count under your ownership, but it's a pretty low-maintenance glide-path to real estate investment exposure and wealth

•

Ben Scarborough · Answer

@Bill Hampton I now see there is a general December meeting. Thank you!

@Jingru Sui that’s definitely worth looking into. I have only had the house for about a year and haven’t needed to do hardly any rehab so not sure how much equity I could really gain at the moment, but I will investigate!

Jingru Sui · Answer

@Ben Scarborough. Atlanta’s house price has gone up quite a lot in the past few month. You’ll probably have more equity than you think.

Bill Hampton · Answer

Ben, welcome to Bigger Pockets. Bigger Pockets is a great place for education and networking.

GAREIA has evening meetings. Check the website again.

Good luck and let me know if I can be of assistance.

Jared Wonders · Answer

@Ben Scarborough

I would definitely agree with the above posts in saying that house hacking would probably be the best option starting out. My wife and I’s biggest expense by far is our primary mortgage, however, we didn’t overextend ourselves as much as the average person and still have quite a bit of money to set aside every month for investing.

House hacking allows you to decrease your expenses as well as give you experience AND potentially increase your income depending on how the numbers work. If you aren’t wanting to go that route what we did is we started investing in simpler SFH (one story, <1500 sq ft, brick exterior, crawl space) because there isn’t as much to these properties and if there are issues they can be easily accessed under the crawlspace.

For financial literacy I would highly recommend looking into some books pertaining to financial independence (I.e. “Retire Before Mom and Dad”, “Your Money or Your Life”). If you are into podcasts check out Choose FI or the BP Money podcast is also a good one. Good luck in your journey and feel free to reach out!

Jared Wonders

Blaine Alger · Answer

I am not that knowledgeable in the ATL market but you don't have to be an expert to know that it is HOT and can be difficult to get started.  I would encourage you to look outskirts of the Atlanta metroplex and try to find a secondary market that won't have as much competition and will be easier to get started. I think a 30-45min radius from the city center would be a good range.

To get a better feel for the market, I would suggest you just search "Atlanta" in the BP search bar and just reach out to all the investors that pop up. This is good way to introduce your self, let them know what you are trying to do and see what value you can bring to their business. Great way to build relationships and connections when meet ups are not as available.

Best of luck!

-BA

Will Fraser · Answer

I'd seriously consider parking your investment down payment funds in a Syndication (ideally) or a REIT (secondarily) and soak up as much as you can there while earning a good return.  Best case scenario you'll earn and learn along the way and the market will chill out a bit and you'll have a great opportunity to buy some properties after a round of syndications or two, OR (possibly more likely) you'll see the sweetness of the true mailbox money and be indelibly changed.

Jingru Sui · Answer

@Ben Scarborough what about refin on your primary (take advantage of low interest rate) and cash out some $$ to put into your first investment property. Increase your budget a little bit. That’s how I started about 4 years ago.

Ben Scarborough · Answer

@Jared Wonders @Marc Brenner @Will Fraser

Thank y’all for your recommendations! My wife and I unfortunately already own a perfect SFH that her parents can come visit and stay with us at so house hacking would likely jeopardize that luxury to some degree, and not to mention Lord only knows when our family will start growing ha.

However, we currently only have the ability to search in the market for an investment property worth around 100-150k if we only have the option of putting 20% down which is extremely slim pickins in Atlanta to get in a decent up and coming spot. We will continue to look at SFR and MFH though for the time being til we hear of a better option for us.

Marc Brenner · Answer

Hey @Ben Scarborough,

I really think House Hacking is the best strategy for beginners as it both significantly reduces your biggest monthly expense (rent/mortgage) and gives you experience as a buyer and landlord. It is also one of the easiest strategies to accomplish in a competitive real estate market, as opposed to the BRRRR strategy or flipping. Hope this helps!

- Marc

Seeking some start-up advice?

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