My Long Term Plan, need reassurance and advice

[Mitchell M.]

Hello, I am about to be a third year law student at a T6 school that I don't want to specify. I already have a job locked up at a large firm next year in the DFW area, but I am originally from north east florida. I have been studying real estate for the last few years, on this site and many books, and although I want to practice law, I have always believed that RE is the best place to put my money. In the firm I will work for next year, it is typical for attorneys to last 6-10 years and then exit to many different areas (big law). I will be graduating with no debt and expect so save anywhere from 80-120k over the next 8 or so years, as I will start out making around 170k, with raises every year. I also have about 90k saved that I will start off with. With all this savings I definitely plan on pursuing buy and hold single family up to four-plex properties, at least at first. Since I will have quite a bit to invest into new properties for the next few years I have many questions. I really want to find properties with cash on cash returns of at least 16%, at least while interest rates are low, which would mean that most of the properties I am interested in would be well under 200k. Therefore, while pumping in so much saved income into new properties, I will quickly exceed the 4, or 10, property limit. Will I be able to put another 10 in my wife's name? What will I do once I exceed the 10 property limit? How hard is it to find a line of credit? Is single family buy and hold even the right strategy considering I will be buying so many so frequently? Will I not have enough time (even while using property management) to keep up with my investments while working 55-65 HOURS A WEEK alone in my primary job? I need any advice and help you can give. I feel that while I am fortunate to have landed such a well paying job, my situation is different than most investors and therefore I am a little stressed. Thank you

[Stephen Masek]

$170,000 x 8 = $1,360,000. Why do only expect to have saved $80,000 to $120,000? Live in the least expensive place which is safe, avoid all big spending, and you will be able to save at least $500,000 after income taxes, hopefully much more.