Living in city that is rapidly growing, everything SO expensive

[Erica King]

Hello,

I'm 24, I revived my RE license in March, and would like to further my career in Real Estate by owning rental homes and/or flipping houses. Currently, I am a assistant property manager for a mountain resort in North Carolina. I was born and raised in Charlotte, NC and currently in on Lake Norman (about 20 miles north of the city). I've spent countless days and hours reading about owning rental homes, flipping homes, and everything in between. I'm absorbing all of the really good info on this site but I have the same questions after each article I read... can you guys provide some insight?

First - the city of Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities on the east cost right now. Population is dramatically increasing by the months / years which, from what I've seen, is driving the price of real estate through the roof. There is literally no such thing as a "$80,000 to $100,000 fixer upper" anywhere that I have found. I don't have access to MLS yet but what other places can I look? Craigslist is flooded with real estate firms. I travel back and forth to the mountains a lot so I don't have a ton of free time to drive around looking for FSBO's. Since real estate in my area is so high, is that my hint to NOT to invest right now? Or is real estate expensive everywhere at the moment?

Second - I have a little bit in savings however, would rather not drain myself using that money towards a down payment for my FIRST time flipping a home (or keeping it for a rental home). Most of the low down payments loans require you to live in the home. What do you do in this situation? Keep saving until I can comfortably put 20% down on a home I'll need to put more money in to rent or flip?

Any suggestions on these topics are greatly appreciated. God bless.