Real Estate Rookie New to BiggerPockets

[Faiyaz Hashmi]

Hey, BiggerPockets, I'm Faiyaz Hashmi from Chicago. I'm excited to be part of the community. I've been listening to BiggerPockets for about six months and recently got the Pro membership. I want to become a multi-family investor to achieve financial freedom. It's encouraging to hear all the stories of many successful real estate investors who started with nothing. I'm reading The MultiFamily Millionaire and want to use that as a blueprint. I also signed up for the Real Estate Rookie Bootcamp beginning in October.

Strategy: I have about $20k to put to work. I can potentially raise some additional funds from family and friends, but I want to get my 1st deal with the $20k. My wife and I both have good W2 jobs. One of my challenges might be that I'm still carrying undergrad and business school debt plus some credit card debt, so I'm still determining what financing might look like. I've been looking for a 2-4 unit building to access traditional financing for around $200k. I've been searching on Zillow to see what's out there and in what condition—targeting Class B in a decent area with a focus on cash flow. I'm open to suggestions on which areas. Ideally, if I can find something that provides a net cash flow of around $200ish for my 1stdeal, that would be great.

Any advice from the BiggerPockets community would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!