New investor in the making. Not afraid if failure or hard work

[Kenny Hanuska]

Good evening all, new to bigger pockets. Can't get enough of the podcasts and books. Plan to start investing in Single family homes. BRRR, flip. Or rental. Unsure if foreclosures or mls research is the best place to start running numbers and taking the action of making offers. I'm very handy and plan to do work myself for my first few acquisitions. But reasonable enough to know when it's time to hire that out.

[Marc Rice]

Quote from @Kenny Hanuska:

Good evening all, new to bigger pockets. Can't get enough of the podcasts and books. Plan to start investing in Single family homes. BRRR, flip. Or rental. Unsure if foreclosures or mls research is the best place to start running numbers and taking the action of making offers. I'm very handy and plan to do work myself for my first few acquisitions. But reasonable enough to know when it's time to hire that out.

 I think sometimes foreclosures can be overhyped and even riskier to buy than traditional fixer uppers because generally you cannot do the same due diligence on the house with an inspection period and you cannot negotiate remedy or repairs if needed either. Plus you often get pressured to bid more than you're comfortable with. Also most realtors do not assist with foreclosures because the auctions do not compensate realtors at all and their buyers have usually a 1-5% chance of actually winning. Not to mention most foreclosures are unique to counties so you'd have to find a specialized realtor for every county or master all the counties yourself.

I would encourage SFR BRRRRs or rentals over flips because flipping is just another high paying job that you pay a ton of taxes on. Not to mention the volatile market right now on exit pricing. If you do want to go this route, networking with local investor friendly agents who can find off market deals for those BRRRRs is essential. It's always good to ask the agent how many successful BRRRRs they've done themselves, how they find off market deals, and how many BRRRR deals a year do they do.

Lastly, make sure you're buying in the neighborhood grades that make sense for you. Asking a local realtor can really help you here.