Aloha from Honolulu Hawaii!

[Kasey Sulheim]

Hello Bigger Pockets! My name is Kasey Sulheim, 32yrs young, and am from what used to be a small town in Minnesota. For the last twelve years have called the island of Oahu home. First of all I just want to thank all of the people involved in this online community... I am overwhelmed with all of the knowledge and have been lurking a few days just trying to take in what I can. 

With Hawaii being the tourist destination that it is, the thought of vacation rental ownership seems like a smart investment. Buy and hold investments have always interested me. After years of reading all of the Kiyosaki books and a number of other like minded authors, I sat and watched one of my close friends do exactly what I had been reading about all of these year. He just closed on his first deal, a single family home in Hawaii and is making positive cashflow! After seeing him do it, it gave me the motivation to stop "just reading about it" and get off my butt and JUST DO IT! 

Some things I bring to the table: Boots on the ground in Hawaii. It is a long flight and an expensive place to stay so if any investors are interested in property here I would be very excited to get my foot in the door so to speak in any way to get experience. I am a bartender so I mostly work nights so that leave my days free to put time into my real estate biz. Also I have done some light remodeling, mostly bathrooms and tile work. I am very knowledgeable with landscaping "hardscapes" (paver brick patios and driveways/modular block retaining walls and rock walls). I have also done some construction and electrical work(not currently licensed). I have a Hawaii realtors license but is currently inactive.

I have many questions, but I will try to keep it to a few for now. 

1. Is Hawaii the right place to start being that I only make on paper about $50,000 a year and have about $15,000 capital to work with?

2. I met a real estate broker that sell and PM's Waikiki condos as vacation rentals, is that a good place to start or will she just be trying to sell me something?

3. My parents and brothers seem on board to help me look at properties around their areas in Minnesota. Would that be a better market to start in? They live in Chaska MN and seems like it keeps growing and growing every time I go back!

4. Am I asking the right questions?

Thank you for taking the time to read my first post. I look forward making passive income with real estate and hope to help bring some other good people with me along the way!

Kasey Sulheim

[Michael Borger]

Hi @Kasey Sulheim. Investing in Hawaii is definitely different than other markets, but you don't necessarily need a lot of cash. I started out wholesaling and now flip on Oahu regularly -- rarely using any of my own capital.

I know you mentioned buy and hold as your strategy. While that will be difficult for the most part, if financed traditionally, but don't discount the idea of sandwich leases and other creative financing strategies as a way to get your foot in the door without having a lot of your own cash.