Beginner Real Estate Investor - Advice and Tips

[Austin Olivas]

Hey everyone, I am completely new to real estate investing. I listen to the BiggerPockets podcast pretty regularly and have started picking up some books to read. Big fan! 

Just a little background info about me I am a 22 year old full time graduate student and a full time faculty member at my university in East Texas. I am working towards my masters in professional accountancy to obtain my CPA license. However, I love real estate! In particular multi family homes have really caught my eye. Since I am a noob at this can anyone help me with a couple questions I have?

-  How can I build my credit without obtaining a credit card? Can I enter the market with little to no credit?

- Are college towns a good space for beginners to enter?

- Where can I meet mentors and gain a more hands on approach? 

- What is the recommended price point (savings) that would give me enough to purchase an investment and still have a cushion? 

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps! 

[Todd Rasmussen]

Quote from @Austin Olivas:

Hey everyone, I am completely new to real estate investing. I listen to the BiggerPockets podcast pretty regularly and have started picking up some books to read. Big fan! 

Just a little background info about me I am a 22 year old full time graduate student and a full time faculty member at my university in East Texas. I am working towards my masters in professional accountancy to obtain my CPA license. However, I love real estate! In particular multi family homes have really caught my eye. Since I am a noob at this can anyone help me with a couple questions I have?

-  How can I build my credit without obtaining a credit card? Can I enter the market with little to no credit?

- Are college towns a good space for beginners to enter?

- Where can I meet mentors and gain a more hands on approach? 

- What is the recommended price point (savings) that would give me enough to purchase an investment and still have a cushion? 

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps! 

 Why wouldn't you get a credit card? Any type of credit account will build your credit but not using a credit card actually hurts your credit score. Lenders will want to see that you can use credit responsibly not just abstain from using it.

Anywhere can be a good space for beginners to enter if they are sufficiently prepared and capable. I would tell you that you have some advantages in the student housing space and househacking the most bedrooms you can afford a reasonable distance from campus and renting the property out by the room could be advantageous depending the specifics of your market.

Search for local real estate meetups, attend the one you think looks most interesting, then attend the rest of them too. "Hi will you be my mentor" is intimidating to other real estate investors. Just create genuine friendships with people. They are usually happy to help.