Hi! New to Real Estate Investing

[Ka Vang]

Hi BP community! I am from Wisconsin. My husband and I are new to real estate investing and currently seeking for our first rental property investment, preferably a multifamily (2-4 unit) home. We are excited to embark on this new journey.

As newbies in the industry, we are eager to learn and grow through hands-on experience and expert guidance. I've been watching a lot of videos, listening to podcasts, and reading books to educate us on real estate investing.

We are in the process of seeking an agent as well as mentorship from seasoned professionals to navigate the complexities of the market today. Any REI advice or recommendations for newbies are welcome and appreciated.

Criteria:
Location - We'd like to get our feet wet locally in WI but open to venture out if it makes sense
Property Type - SFH, Multifamily
Property Condition - Turnkey & Cosmetic repairs
Investment Strategy - Buy & Hold, MTR

[Marcus Auerbach]

Milwaukee is an interesting market (I've been investing here for 15 years) but with 1.6 million people in the metro area and neighborhoods famously changing block-by-block, location is critical. And it's not as cheap as many think, especially in quality areas. You can see that days on market are much longer in rough areas than in higher priced ones (like 90 days vs 5). 

We have a chronic housing shortage, which results in an extremely hot rental market, but it also makes buying very competitive. The age of our housing stock and the capex that comes with it should also not be ignored. We have seen steady appreciation around 7-8% over the last 10 years (you can look that up on YouTube) and are on track to another 8% year so far. Without an influx in new construction we are probably going to stay on this path, because outside of 600k new construction in the suburbs, we only have what we have in terms of houses.

Wisconsin is generally a landlord-friendly state, but Dane County (Madison) keeps getting more and more landlord-unfriendly, Milwaukee is definitively better in that regard.

@Ed Riggenbach is definitely a person I would talk to about property management, WHM also has a very informative website.