Skeptical About Getting Started.. Again

[Isaac Pyle]

Hey everyone! I have been on and off of BP a few times, and each time have sortof decided that it was the right time to begin investing in real estate, and then for one reason or another it didn't make sense and left. I am a very math-minded person, and fully recognize that timing the market doesn't makes sense. However, I have a hard time determining if what I'm doing is trying to time the market, or trying to time my season of life properly for investing.

Some context (will give a tl;dr) I am 25 now, and had a strong desire to get started and buy a house hack when I was about 18 or 19. Read the books, did the research, etc., but I was not really in a good spot financially yet (too young for a good paying job, and lived in Colorado where house prices and most of the numbers I was doing didn't really make sense for what I was looking for). So I put that on the back burner, went to school and got my undergrad degree in computer science. Worked for a little over a year, with the intention to save money for a down payment, and started doing all sorts of deal analysis in the area and such. Then life sortof shifted-

My girlfriend (now fiance) got into a medical school across the country (here in Kentucky) and my job didn't have any real transferability (was required to be in-office) so I quit and moved here without one. Took me about 7 months to find something more stable, and have been working that job now for a little over a year. I do make good enough money to support buying instead of renting, and could start looking at a house hack again, but we're already renting with a lease that will go for about another year, and once my fiance graduates in roughly 2 years there is a very slim chance that we will remain in Kentucky, as we basically need to be flexible to move wherever her residency program takes her. That's making me question again if now would be the proper time for me to dive in or not.

I guess the tl;dr is I feel like I'm trying to time my first RE purchase / investment once I know I will be living in one place more permanently, but feel like I keep losing time that could be compounding investments / returns while I wait.. it seems hard to know when the right time is to get started. Is that a common sentiment among others? And has anyone out there gotten started while moving around often?

(This is also trying to ignore current market conditions which is a whole other topic, but definitely feel shaky at best and make me wonder about job security, appreciation, and other safety nets not being there)

Thanks for reading :)

[Evan Polaski]

@Isaac Pyle, I guess I am generally echoing the other commenters: while there will never be a perfect time to invest in real estate (and generally today is better than tomorrow), I always try to encourage people to be a fairly stable financial footing before doing anything.

It is a bit like the traditional financial advisors priorities:
1. Emergency fund with 6-12 months of living costs saved
2. Pay off all high interest debt (no point buying a house that makes you 12% on a great deal, when you are paying 18% to a credit card company).
3. Investments: real estate, stocks, etc.

Given the typical physician salary, once out of residence, you will have a lot of options build a portfolio in a few years.  In the meantime, learn what you can, or even try to get a job in the space (if that is something that appeals to you).  I would also be looking at deals, because you might find a fourplex, for instance, that makes sense, even if you end up selling in a couple years, but be patient.  You can also buy the dip now on the S&P and may realize that buying stocks can be just as profitable as, if not more than, real estate.

And being analytically minded, just know that you will need to get out of your own way.  There are a lot of overpriced deals out there, but you will also never buy a deal if you are waiting for that perfect property.