Aspiring investors with 200k+ income looking for guidance

[Savannah Walbert]

Hello! My fiancée and I will be beginning our real estate investment journey in 2024 and are looking for any suggestions or pointers as we make some of our initial decisions.

We live in Los Angeles, so it’s probably not surprising that we are leaning toward out-of-state investing. Combined we are making about 250-300k annually pre-tax. However, we aren’t W2 employees, all that income is from 1099 independent contractor work, which of course will limit what financing we can qualify for.

We have 100k+ saved in the bank, but don’t want to plow all of it into our first deal. Ideally we will find a (relatively) low priced market to be able to get into without putting up huge amounts of capital.

If it were possible to invest within driving distance we would love that, since we are a little nervous about dealing with any renovations or even just unexpected maintenance from out-of-state. However, I think the prices in California will cause us to invest out of state and we will just have to learn how to set up the right systems and processes to deal with issues as they come up.

Any pointers on decently priced markets that we could get into in 2024 for a solid first investment property would be much appreciated. We are open to single and multi family, although we’d prefer multi of course. We also aren’t set on doing long, medium, or short term, and would be open to advice about which way will probably be best for our given situation.

Thank you and look forward to starting our investment career!

[Jon Schwartz]

@Savannah Walbert, as an LA local, I can't help but jump in to defend our home town!

Have you considered house hacking a duplex in LA? Again, I'm partial, but I think it's the best investment that a young professional (or young couple) in LA can make.

Since you're clearly doing well outside of real estate, I'd think of your real-estate investments as opportunities to build wealth over a longer timeframe -- as opposed to opportunities to score some cashflow. I was in a similar position and looking out-of-state some seven years ago, and I ultimately decided that sitting on a big, appreciation asset in LA was more valuable than a few hundred dollars a month of Midwest cashflow.

What's your cost of living in LA? If you're living for free with parents, that's a different story, but if you're saddled with an expensive rental, converting that cost of living from a liability to an asset is a great move. Especially since you're both young and, I assume, childless. I house hacked a duplex until my daughter was four; at that point, we really wanted a "house" house.

Good luck!

Best,

Jon