Hola from Los Angeles, CA

[Erica R.]

Hey gang! Wanted to drop in and say a quick hello. I'm a NYC ex-pat, happily now living in Los Angeles. My husband and I are in the process of selling our Brooklyn apartment and are looking toward what we will do with the chunk of cash we'll soon be receiving. We're very much still in the exploration phase of things, but we know that we'd like to dive in and really get our feet wet with real estate investing. I'm attracted to flipping (as I'm also an interior designer on the side, and find tasks like choosing tile and paint colors to be bizarrely fun), but we also want to look toward building long term wealth/passive income with some smaller multi-family properties. At least I think. Unfortunately things look pretty grim in LA right now in terms of finding viable deals, so we're also exploring potential out-of-state investing. I'm about 198 posts, 16 podcasts and 54 blog posts deep into BP so far and I can't even come close to answering the question: "what's your niche?," BUT we're working on figuring that all out. A couple of month's ago I had no earthly clue what "wholesaleing" even meant, and thought that "NOI" was a new rapper on the scene...so I am making some progress :) There is so much amazingly fab info on here, so thanks already x a million to everyone for sharing all of their feedback, advice and experiences. You guys rock!

[Christopher Hunter]

@Erica R. Welcome to BP and welcome to sunny California.

[Joshua Dorkin]

Keep reading, keep listening, and keep asking questions . . . and you'll find the niche that works for you. We're here to help, so don't hesitate to ask what you need.

Otherwise, welcome to BiggerPockets!

[Brandon Turner]

Hey @Erica R. welcome to the site! It's great to have you here. Feel free to ask any questions in the forums. Seeya around!

[Ramon Jenkins]

Welcome aboard

[James Wise]

@Erica R. welcome to the site.

[Erica R.]

Thanks so much for the welcome wagon! @James Wise @Ramon Jenkins @Brandon Turner @Joshua Dorkin @Christopher Hunter I really look forward to getting to know each of you more as I continue to soak up all of the juicy info in the forums!

[Christopher Hunter]

@Erica R.

@Erica R.

[Erin Paul]

Welcome Erica! So glad to have you join the community!

[Erica R.]

Thanks so much @Erin PaulI really appreciate it!

[Allan Glass]

Welcome to LA @Erica R. seems like your interior design craving would be a great fit for flipping. Best of Luck!

[Erica R.]

@Allan Glass Ha, yes! I agree...paint chips and fabric swatches are my guilty pleasures :)

[Ali Boone]

Lol. Well I was planning to respond just because we are LA neighbors but then after reading the part about NOI being the newest rapper, I realized I had to respond because clearly you are someone I need to know! I laughed out loud on that one (probably because I can relate... no idea who the latest anybody who is anybody is, and sad since living in LA I'm in the middle of celeb world).

Welcome tho! And no need to identify a niche. I prefer to use the term niche to explain what I've mostly been in, rather than something I want to get into. Limiting oneself to one niche can be restricting unnecessarily sometimes. Just keep exploring, learn tons and your niche will find you.

Now I want to come up with a real estate investing rap song and we could call it NOI.

[Erica R.]

@Ali Boone

OMG, a real estate investing rap song would be kind of awesome: "We were poppin' Cap RATES like they were goin out of style...that's the best damn ARV I've seen in awhile." Annnd, now I'm embarrassing myself.

Anyway, thanks for the niche advice...that's a much better way of looking at it! I've loved reading your posts and checking out your site. In fact, you've now got me thinking about this whole out-of-state investing thing!

[Mehran K.]

Welcome to BP @Erica R.! Anyone that can make a rap song about REI is alright in my books :) Glad to have you here and I hope to see you around the forums!

I'm here in LA and am also an out of state investor. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask anywhere here on the forums!

[Ali Boone]

It's fun to think about :)

Ummmm.... I think you nailed the main chorus for the rap song! I was totally singing it in my head.

[Erica R.]

@Mehran K.

Thanks so much! Will definitely hit you up with questions as I continue to soak it all in. And I promise not to rap anymore...ha.

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

@Erica R. Welcome to BP Family!