How do I buy my first rental property?

[Nick Henry]

Hello everyone,

I am 23 years old and looking to get my start in real estate investing. I’d love some general tips on how best to navigate my situation. 

My main goal is to just get some skin in the game by the end of 2022 and purchase my first property. I don’t really care that much about how much cash flow I get, I just want to be in the positive. Some decent appreciation over time would be nice too. 

I am looking for multi-family properties or single family homes that can be turned into a property with multiple units to rent. My max purchase price would be about 400k but ideal would be about 150k.

I live in California but I am willing to invest out of state in either Nevada or Colorado. I only have about 40k of my own money to invest so I’d be open to house hacking if I could find a good deal in a decent area of Southern California but that’s not ideal.

I also feel that a property that needs some work done would be a better investment because I can buy cheaper and increase the value right away, but I’m not sure. 

The long term goal would be to own a large multi family property (100+ units). 

Any tips or ideas on how to get started would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!