Young Professional Looking to Get into Real Estate Investing

[Nick Connors]

Hello everyone! I'm a 26 year old from Long Island hoping to acquire my first rental property by the end of the year. I do pretty decent for my age, and I live at home still, so I've been saving up a lot of money. Sad reality is I'll probably own a few rentals before ever moving out. That's just how it is here. With that being said I'll obviously be focusing on out of state.

I know Ohio is mentioned a lot around here, specifically Columbus, and I'm an Ohio State alum, so that would be pretty cool to secure my first property in Ohio. I'll be looking for long term rentals that don't need any major repairs initially. I'm terrified enough of doing this out of state, so I am not interested in additional complexities with BRRRR. I'd feel comfortable investing ~$50k to start off. Seems like I could possibly get a duplex with that kind of down payment. I've considered going Dave Ramsey and buying a house with cash and upping my budget to $100k in a smaller market, but that would blow almost all my savings, and $100k just doesn't get you much anymore. Plus I need to leave my folks' place at some point lol. So loan it is.

A few thoughts/questions on my mind that I hope to learn as I continue my real estate journey:
1. How do you actually strike from out of state in a timely manner?

2. Tips for setting up an LLC

3. How can I connect with local investors?

4. I'm terrified of doing all this research, finding a "dream" property, only for it to fail and negative cash flow. What are common things beginners overlook?

[Sam McCormack]

Quote from @Nick Connors:

Hello everyone! I'm a 26 year old from Long Island hoping to acquire my first rental property by the end of the year. I do pretty decent for my age, and I live at home still, so I've been saving up a lot of money. Sad reality is I'll probably own a few rentals before ever moving out. That's just how it is here. With that being said I'll obviously be focusing on out of state.

I know Ohio is mentioned a lot around here, specifically Columbus, and I'm an Ohio State alum, so that would be pretty cool to secure my first property in Ohio. I'll be looking for long term rentals that don't need any major repairs initially. I'm terrified enough of doing this out of state, so I am not interested in additional complexities with BRRRR. I'd feel comfortable investing ~$50k to start off. Seems like I could possibly get a duplex with that kind of down payment. I've considered going Dave Ramsey and buying a house with cash and upping my budget to $100k in a smaller market, but that would blow almost all my savings, and $100k just doesn't get you much anymore. Plus I need to leave my folks' place at some point lol. So loan it is.

A few thoughts/questions on my mind that I hope to learn as I continue my real estate journey:
1. How do you actually strike from out of state in a timely manner?

2. Tips for setting up an LLC

3. How can I connect with local investors?

4. I'm terrified of doing all this research, finding a "dream" property, only for it to fail and negative cash flow. What are common things beginners overlook?

 Nick, with the funds you have now, why aren't you going about househacking? Understanding that you're in New York and the laws are leaned to be tenant friendly, I would still say this is the best way to go about it as a new investor. You get PM experience, lower expenses, you don't live with your parents anymore, etc.. 

You will probably get others saying the same thing, and I ask this because I'm sure you have considered it but ultimately decided not to. Look forward to hearing about it!