Newbie enjoying the challenge of getting educated - Spring Grove, Illinois

[Shannon Watson]

Hello, all. :)

Our family is just getting started in the process of investing in real estate. Neither of our families have done so in the past, so it's completely new to us, yet we feel up to the challenge.

We're really fortunate to have built connections over the years with professionals we trust (e.g. an amazing realtor who treats us like family, a mortgage broker who is as straight-shooting as we are, etc.) and we feel like we have a solid foundation for getting educated on the process.

We definitely are NOT looking at flipping at this point - neither one of us is particularly handy, and with homeschooling 4 of our 5 kids I don't really want to find time for learning to be handy :) - but definitely interested in landlording and slowly building wealth.

We feel blessed to be under 40 with no debt (we own our home) and are intrigued by the idea of using this process to teach our children, especially our older two (ages 15 and 13), that there is more to savings than a piggy bank.

At the moment our main questions are related to getting started (do we create an LLC? When? How?), financing (mortgage? HELOC?), and when to begin (do we wait for the property Hubby inherited in Tucson to sell, thus giving us a big chunk of seed money to maybe start out in a small multi-family, or do we use our own resources now?).

We're getting there!

[Zaid R.]

Congrats on taking the first step!

Here's my attempt @ answering your questions = please keep in mind that different markets & different situations could affect these

do we create an LLC? - no,too early - focus on getting a deal

financing (mortgage? HELOC?) - if you have steady jobs a mortgage might be a good option, mortageg rates are a little over all time lows - average 4.25% (for 30 year fixed, according to bankrate.com)

, and when to begin? -> Now. Now is the time

I hope this helps. Good luck