Starting my REI Journey

[Austin Dias]

Hello all!

My wife and I live in the Central Valley of CA and are gearing up to purchase our first rental property (ideally some time in 2024). I have been a notary/loan signing agent since the beginning of 2019 and have had great opportunities to speak first hand with numerous investors around our area. Over the last year or so I've gotten more curious and have asked more questions each time I come across an investor and my interest has been peaked.

I'm 27 and my wife is 25. We bought our own primary residence back in December of 2021 and absolutely love our home and neighborhood. My wife has a great 8-5 job at our local community college but the main motivation for starting this journey is to hopefully allow her to not have to work 8-5 the rest of her working life. I am an independent contractor for my job as a notary so my schedule is much more flexible and there are many days where I can spend a good portion educating myself and researching the world of REI. I read Rich Dad Poor Dad a handful of years ago but recently re-read the book with a different mindset to implement the ideas into our life today. After re-reading RDPD, I read the CashFlow Quadrant and am currently about to finish Brandon Turner's Rental Property Investing book.

I wanted to give the background of my life to set up my question/idea and see if anyone has any thoughts?

As far as our financials go, my wife and I are in a pretty fortunate spot. We were both able to get our college educations without going into any student debt, and we don't have any credit card debt. My wife's car is paid off and mine will be paid off in a little less than a year. We both have good starts to our retirement accounts and we have right around $100,000 in savings. Flipping a house used to intimidate me because I'm really not that handy of a guy but the more I've spoken with investors and read Brandon's book, that's limited that fear. So now that I've been able to picture myself doing a flip/BRRRR, I'm at the point of seeking out the education I feel I need through reading, podcasts, BP, etc, while starting the process of reaching out to the investors I know around me and letting them know I'm serious about all of this. Through my job I've been able to come across lenders (public and private), investors, realtors, escrow and title officers, and pretty much any other occupation one of my clients may have. Now I'm at the point of figuring out how I go from being known as a notary to being known as a legitimate real estate investor.

I guess there wasn't really a question anywhere in there LOL I just saw this introductory option for the forums and thought I can give my background and ideas and see if anyone had anything to say! 

[Bradley Buxton]

Quote from @Taz Zettergren:

@Austin Dias welcome to the forums! Personally I'm a fan of long term rentals simply because they're more passive and consistent, I've heard great success stories with other methods though. I work with hundreds of clients in your exact situation and they tend to like the southern/middle part of the country because you can get in high quality areas for under 300k a house. I'm located in Memphis but operate in other markets here in the southern/middle part of the country, feel free to reach out if you I can be of assistance. Best of luck investing! 

@Austin Diasias I agree with Taz that long and mid-term rentals are a good way to go. Flips run into un expected expenses and can cost you if the market slows even more.  The short-term rental market is saturated and comes with high management costs.  There might be some mountain cabins near where you are that could have some good returns. I'm biased on the Reno, Nevada market because of the job growth and limited starts, and low property taxes.