First post: looking for RE mentors and advice on my situation!

[Ryan Tongue]

Hi all!

My name is Ryan Tongue, and I’m rookie investor looking to purchase my first property! I’ve been stuck in the analysis paralysis phase for a while and have never posted before. But enough of that, let’s get going! I apologize for the long post, though I’m looking to be as clear as possible for you guys.

A little bit about me: I’m from West Michigan, and I’m currently living in Salt Lake City pursuing an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the U of U. I’m 22 and I have about 18 months until I graduate. During the summers, I’ve been working as a door-to-door salesman in SC, TX, and UT, saving as much cash as I can to put towards my first rental property.

My goal is to build a portfolio of long-term rental properties in West Michigan and surrounding areas. I've read David Greene's Long-Distance REI, among other books, and understand that a good investor shouldn't limit his or herself to their own backyard, though between the network I have in West Michigan and my basic understanding of which areas are good/bad/on-the-rise, I want to get started there.

I’ve reached a point where I feel I have a thorough understanding of the principles behind the various strategies that a person might utilize when investing in real estate, and I’ve also saved up a sum of cash that I believe to be enough to get started. However, there are several barriers I’m finding difficult to hurdle due to my lack of experience. What I’m looking for now is a mentor or even just advice.

To give you an idea of what I'm hoping to find guidance in, the investment plan I had in mind is to find properties that need work or are owned by motivated sellers that I can purchase for 80 cents on the dollar, or as close to as possible. I'd like to add value to the property through a rehab project, and then rent it out long-term. My hope is that after buying the property under market-value and forcing appreciation through rehabbing, I'll have significant equity in the property that I can leverage through a HELOC or something similar to recycle my capital and repeat the process with more homes. Essentially, I'm looking to BRRRR, though I won't be able to start with an all-cash offer as I only have around 50K to work with. I'd also like to do aspects of the rehab myself, and I know contractors in my circle that would be willing to help me learn how.

The biggest issue I face is that I don't qualify for conventional financing since I'm still in school and don't have consistent income, so I'll need to find a qualifying partner or pursue creative financing which is something I'm not sure how to accomplish. I'm also limited in the amount of time I will physically be in West Michigan prior to when I graduate in May of 2025, which makes applying for an FHA and house-hacking difficult. I've thought about house-hacking in Utah while still in school, but the price-to-rent ratios seems so high around me that it would be difficult to cash flow. Aside from these concerns, I'm not confident in my ability to assess rehab costs, or what a property's ARV might be. I've reached a point where I feel that I should be asking "who" knows these things and can help, rather than "how" I can learn everything myself.

I realize there are gaps in my understanding of what I’d like to accomplish, and that today’s market is a controversial one to invest in. I’m desperate to move this forward, however, even if it means being a fly on the wall for someone doing what I’d like to do if I’m not at a point to be able to invest myself. If you’re an investor in Michigan that is willing to let me shadow you on a deal, I’d love to provide value to you in any way I can. To all others reading, advice on what you think I should do would be greatly appreciated!

Often when I express my dreams to others, I’m met with responses along the lines of what I can’t do. If there’s a platform that exists that will instead view my barriers as puzzles to be solved, I believe it’s this one.

Thanks for reading,

Ryan