Fist Buy: Seeking Advice In Order To Organize My Thoughts

[Dan K.]

Hello BP. Like many (most?) of you I've been enjoying the podcasts for a while and am now officially joining the community. I would like to purchase a buy and hold n-plex and like many first time buyers, have spent a great deal of time learning about buying properties....but...have yet to buy a single property. Realizing the value of taking action for first time buyers, I would very much like to do so, soon. There is one factor that is particularly creating an analysis paralysis for me that I wanted to present to the forum. That factor is location. I feel as comfortable as one can be who has never done this with researching a potential property within a given location, but I feel stuck on selecting that location in the first place. I realize that "a good location" is different for every investor. Therefore, I am not asking you what is a good location. Instead, I would like to present my scenario and get some feedback as to how I can narrow down an area. This is a question about my thought process.

I'm considering whether I should/can live in the area I buy my first properties. Currently I live in Bellingham, WA. I like it and am in no hurry to leave. But at some point, I would like to would like to settle in the northern Seattle metro area: Bothell, Shoreline, Kenmore, Edmonds, etc... Currently, this market does not seem like a wise choice for a first time investor looking to purchase a buy and hold n-plex reasonably soon (average home 500k, on the market 9 days). This leads me to think that I should look to buy outside of where I want to eventually live.

So the most obvious places are more affordable areas within a day's drive of Bellingham: In WA there is Vancouver, Tri-Cities, Pullman; in ID there is Boise, Meridian, Moscow, Coeur d'Alene....obviously there are many more options, and these are just within that parameter of doable day's drive from Bellingham. Technically, every city in the country is an option.

I'm excited to start researching properties, but I feel like my location needs some focus. I imagine there are probably many forum posts that ask "what location should I buy my first property in?" Since that is a complicated answer, I'd like to ask instead for ideas about a process I can use to narrow down my location. Am I being to quick to give up on finding affordable property in northern Seattle? Am I being to slow in buying property outside of this area? If I'm already looking outside of the area I live, does it really make a difference if it's somewhat close to me? I.e., if I'm pretty firm on wanting to eventually settle in western WA, does it really matter if my property is in Idaho vs a state much farther away?