28K in hand - What would you do? Pittsburgh.

[Scott L.]

Hello again everyone.

Small time/newer investor from bout 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh, in Cranberry. I recently came into some cash from another investment that is now complete, around 30K.  

I am a buy and hold investor with only one property so far, a duplex in Ellwood City. It cash flows about 350 a month in what I would classify as a C+ property. I put down 20% when i purchased it for around 55K, put in about 2k in new kitchen updates. I have about 20K in equity in the property and a commercial loan with a local bank lender and an LLC setup with my wife to protect our other assets that owns the property. We self manage the two tenants currently one 15yr+ tenant and one that is going on 2 yrs. Knock on wood no major issues, just some minor plumbing along the way.

I work a full time job and do not really have experience with much in the way of home repair and not very handy.  I have obviously have more cash then I do time.  I am not looking to make a quick $5,000 on a whole sale deal, again and again.  I don't have time to manage a flip project really, nor the knowledge.  I like buy and hold.  I would like to buy a property for each of my three kids for possible college savings plan down the road.  I'd like to build a portfolio of rentals that have cash flow and allow me to buy a small condo at Hidden Valley (in the mountains) for fun some day.

I can never make local REI meetups cause they are usually on Mon and Tues and that doesn't work for me, and seems like kids sports get in the way other times. So i read a lot, and listen to nearly every single podcast Josh and Brandon do on here that would apply, and then I listen to the again, ha.

This is my story and my goals.  

My question:  If you had 30K, with a buy and hold for cash flow mentality, and a portfolio of rentals in mind, what would you do? 

What would you do with $30,000 cash free and clear...

[Jay Belcher]

If buy and hold is your thing, then buy and hold. Depending on how fast you want to grow, you could use your cash for down payments on additional units. If you buy them undervalued you can refi them down the road (after adequate seasoning - 6-12 mos) and pull that money back out and do it again.

As always cash is king so use it sparingly.