Looking to buy first rental in Georgia

[William Ford]

My wife Sarah and I have been talking about doing a real estate rental property for years, and we already own a 3,100 sq ft house that we now have around 140k in equity. We also have cash for a down payment of 20% on a 250-300k house.

We are ideally looking for a cash-flowing property, that maybe we can remodel and hold for at least 2 years to avoid capital gains. 

To note, in the next 2-3 years we also want to build a "dream home" on a larger piece of land (2 acres preferably)

Any advice on how to get over the analysis paralysis of buying a rental? We are pre-approved for a 2.625% conventional 30 year loan.

[Holly Barrett]

Awesome! Let’s dive in:

1. Pick your primary goal for real estate investing, is it a $ amount of cash flow to be freed from the 9-5, is it to diversify your portfolio, long term appreciation...? 
2. once you know your primary motivating goal, and have established a $ amount goal, you can now have some fun with backing into the #s. I would suggest a bp pro membership so you can use the calculators or get with an agent here who can help you run #s on properties.

3. Determine your areas of preference

4. Get on realtor mls searches for those areas using established parameters

5. Type of asset: multi fam, single fam, short term rental, mobile homes, storage - pick your poison 

6. Once you find the first property that meets your established parameters, BUY IT!!