Duplex house hacking getting started

[Matthew Mason]

Whats going on fellow BPrs

This is my first post on this site though I have been poking around for the past few months. I graduated college about 2 years ago and am currently in the process ,under contract, of acquiring my first duplex(of many ;p)

I first became interested in real estate when I graduated college and started reading about financial independence and how to achieve it. If you haven't read rich dad poor dad stop what your are doing and go read it.   One of the most popular questions I find when browsing through this site is "how to get started, what to do"   My main advice is read read read, then read some more. If you are serious go on amazon and search real estate books more specifically investing in duplexes or whatever your plan is. Go spend a hundred bucks on 5 or 10 books. If that seems like a big commitment maybe you should rethink everything. My favorite book was Brandon's on  rental property investing. While you are reading and learning you should be watching the market in your target area. I used both Zillow and Trulia and browsed both daily for over 6 months.  Obviously saving for a down payment and closing costs should be a propriety along with knowing your credit. Rome wasn't build in a day. be patient, make a plan and work your plan.

So I knew I was finally ready to jump into the big deep pool of real-estate and it was time. Because I had been watching the market and keeping my eye on prices and different houses for sale in my city I knew right away the deal im currently in is a steal! It was a FSBO on a nice little street right next to downtown and a beautiful Adirondack bike path. 2 car garage/ fenced in yard/ forced heating/ and W.D. hookup s in both units. (up and down) about 1800 sq ft 3 bd down 2 bd up I found it by driving by and seeing the sign and calling the number on it. I was expecting the seller to ask for 130 - 150 when they said 105k I knew I had to move quick! the next day they showed it to me, I brought my buddies dad who owns a big contracting company in town to be my experienced eyes because even though I knew the numbers looked great I didn't want to miss anything! After seeing the house he told me good find and if I didn't buy it he was going to! this was great news and I moved foreword immediately with an offer of 102 that was accepted.

Im the first to admit that I know next to nothing about real estate investing / building / fixing up.  My advice is set your mind to it and go all in if your going to do it and when that deal pops up like it did for me GRAB IT.   Once you are seriously looking make sure you are pre approved and have a reliable real estate attorney standing by to draft up a contract!

Abe Lincoln once said, if you give me an axe, tree, and 6 hours to chop the tree down. I would spend 4 hours sharpening the axe.

-Matt