New investor starting my RE investing journey-- Any Advice??

Question

Hey BP fam,I am a newbie investor in the Atlanta area trying to get started on my real estate investing journey. From listening to podcasts and reading some of the forums on here, I can tell that this is the place to be! I'm thinking about doing a rehab or full flip, potentially while living in the property to use some decreased downpayment advantages. I am in the Atlanta area but would be open to other markets or investment strategies if a better opportunity presented itself. I just figured doing a local deal would be good for my first one, since it would allow me to be more hands-on to learn (or even live in the property while working on it).I'm in no rush to jump into a property ASAP, but definitely wanted to start looking and getting a plan together for when I come across an opportunity that seemed to fit what I am looking for. I would love to connect with anyone who could give some guidance on where to start, best practices, and any other advice to follow along the way.Thanks and cant wait to get going on this journey!-Matt O.

Micah Redden · Answer

Hello @Matt Olson,Welcome to BP and good job on setting a direction for your first investment property.The Atlanta market has plenty of opportunity for you to do a live in flip. To utilize low down payment options you will need to find a really good agent in the neighborhood you want to purchase and be sure they also understand the basics of real estate investing.If you run into substantial roadblocks with available properties and the finance situation, you can also look into house hacking your first deal.Consider what your personal strengths are and what might work better for you.Best of Luck!

Bill Hampton · Answer

Welcome to Bigger Pockets and good luck investing. Let me know if I can be of assistance.

Jon Coleman · Answer

@Matt Olson Welcome to BP! You mentioned that you are considering doing a rehab or a full flip for your first property. If you are wanting to take on a big project like that it'd be good to work through what you'd like to do in more detail, such as BRRRR, house hack, how much reno you want to do, which updates you are willing to do, etc. It'd also be good to work on building out a local team, particularly in areas where you don't have as much experience or don't want to get overly hands on with. One recommendation that comes up frequently is that when you are finding people to work with (agent, GC, property manager, etc.) to go for ones who are themselves investors as they'll better understand your goals and help you achieve them. Best of luck!

Hersh Shah · Answer

Hey @Matt Olson welcome to the BP community. BP community is definitely a great place to connect and learn from others in addition to the thousands of blogs and articles.Atlanta is a great market for flips and BRRRR investments to continue recycling your money. Buying a property that is extremely distressed has its advantages from a return on investment, however you won't be able to live in it if you plan to get a loan as some of those properties wont qualify.If you want to do a live-in flip, try to find a property that is in decent shape in a great area that just needs to be brought up to 2021 standards. This would be properties that need mostly cosmetic work. There are plenty of properties on the market that are like that because typically end buyers aren't thinking from an investor's lens. Definitely not thinking about live in flips!I would suggest becoming really familiar with a couple neighborhoods that you want to be in, especially if you will live there. Once you know where you want to be, do your homework on the properties in that neighborhood by finding out what sold, what it sold for, are others flipping, what did it resell for, what work did they do etc etc. This will help you analyze the properties in your neighborhood of choice and figure out if the numbers and the amount of work you would need to do to make it comparable is worth your time and effort. Happy to help more if you have additional questions.

Brenden Mitchum · Answer

Hey @Matt Olson, welcome to BP and RE investing! Yeah @Micah Redden hit the nail on the head - best way to get started (without a ton of capital) is with a live-in flip or house hack. This is because the barrier to entry is significantly lower for owner-occupied property than straight investments. If you're pretty handy, have time to fill and also don't mind living in a construction zone, a live-in flip is probably the way to go. This is especially true if your strategy of choice is likely to be flipping when you start. However, if you're thinking about going more the buy&hold direction, you probably want to go with house hacking. House hacking is also the better strategy for someone with a full-time job who is still tied to that job to build their capital. Even if you're not 100% "ready" to jump into real estate, house hacking is the most financially savvy housing choice (long-term). Happy to chat more about the subject or answer any other questions you might have. Just shoot me a message anytime!