Making the jump advice needed

[Samuel Lynch]

Seeking advice from all of you who have made the jump. There is so much information out there and I just need to talk to someone who has done this.

My goal is to retire from the military and match my active duty income with real estate rental income. I own one single family rental and in negotiations for a townhome in the same area.

I do not have much capital nor do I have experience in Multifamily but that has always been the goal to get into. My wife challenged me "why wait 4 or 5 years to get into it if that's where you ultimately want to go? Why not get into it now?"

My excuses and realities:

-Lack of capital. I am debt free and have been saving to get back on track after taking a huge financial hit moving from Japan back to the U.S.

-Lack of a network.

-Full time active duty job where I'm gone a lot or have odd/unpredictable hours.

-Lack of knowledge of the exact details.

-Not geographically in an area that I am willing to invest in (SoCal or California in general)

What have I done already?

-Read many books.

-Educated myself as much as podcasts, books, and online research has allowed.

-Became debt free (outside mortgage on rental property)

-Researched and narrowed down a couple different markets in North Carolina (where I'm from and already invest in). Based on population growth, job growth/stability, and declining crime.

-Written down goals and generic plan to attack those goals.

How many of you jumped quickly into Multifamily and what was your first step?

Would you advise me to stick to single family in the area I already invest in for a couple more years or focus solely on Multifamily where I ultimately want to be?

Sorry for this being so long but I felt it was necessary to get the whole picture out there. Thank you for sticking with me this far and I look forward to your advice and learning more.

[Greg Dickerson]

Hi Samuel,

If this is really what you want to do I say go for it! 

First make sure you are fully educated and knowledgeable on the subject. Terminology, types and class of properties, types of markets, all the numbers like cap rates, expense and operating cost line items, study properties for sale and look over the OM. Make sure you fully know and understand every aspect of the business. You will need to know how to raise capital for the down payment "equity" and secure the financing "the debt'' As far as operations you should hire professional property management company so you will need to go big enough for that to work. 

There are several ways to shorten the learning curve and get going immediately. You could hire a mentor, partner with a successful operator or invest passively in some deals. 

Now you can always keep going with the single family route but that will take several years to accumulate enough properties to replace your income but that is still a great strategy for many people.

The key is to decide what you really want and then go for it in the right way.