Looking to connect with Minneapolis, MN investor

[Jackson Mertes]

Hello, I'm moving to Minneapolis in mid-October and would love to purchase a home as soon as possible to house hack. However for now, I'm interested in possibly connecting with investors or real estate professionals from the area to pick your brain about the best neighborhoods to purchase in that are affordable, safest neighborhoods, BRRRR vs house hacking, financing strategies, etc. Thanks!

[James Hamling]

Hey @Jackson Mertes. I apologize ahead of time because I am going to apparently go against the grain here and NOT pander to just get some "lead" and instead do this goofy thing called answer your question. And tell you what, if you value the answer feel free to skip the coffee, I have plenty at my office and to be honest I am too busy doing work to hang at coffee shops to be blunt about it, lol. 

I appreciate your question, it makes total sense as it's a logical thought but unfortunately it's founded in contradiction.  

Think of it this way, consider the attribute statements in negative and positive, almost like counting cards. Picture a positive loaded attribute property; good tenant class, safe place, good appreciation etc etc, that area is going to cost more if not most and have very fierce competition on multiple levels because it is loaded with positives. On opposite side of that coin is all the negatives, while it's easy to get a place and far cheaper, it's going to be tough to make a buck right. 

Now this may seem common sense but I assure it is a common ailment of mass delusion as many are seeking the price of the negative load with all the attributes of the positive load, or what we call fantasy land. 

So what does a person do, where do they go? Well, like most things in life the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. The key is pegging what attributes you can handle as negatives and which you can't, this is how you formulate "your" target area. 

Next is the question "how do I find a deal", and personally i think people over complicate it but I am a rain-maker so I can hold such thoughts. "Good Deals" are always disguised as a problem, and that's step 1 of how to find a "good deal" is what kind of problems are YOUR kind of problems, those that you can SOLVE, and solve for profit. Flippers solve condition problems, wholesalers solve time and conveyance problems, etc etc etc. Why do so many fail, because they are trying to find a tree loaded with golden apples to just walk up to and pluck, which does not exist, vs the reality of being a problem solver. 

Once you know what your kind of problems are, than you answer the question of who is most likely to have those problems. And you go out and find that demographic and announce yourself as a problem solver and ask "do you have this problem?", and yes it is literally that simple. 

Now with this knowledge in mind, you position yourself where it makes most sense, for YOU. Asking a forum to answer the where, you will get everyone else's answers, not yours, and that's worthless for yourself, you need YOUR area, not everyone else's.