New Member from Arlington, VA

[Dan Blum]

Hi Bigger Pockets!

My name is Dan, I'm 25 years old, and I live in Arlington, VA right outside Washington D.C. I'm an assistant project manager for one of the largest commercial general contractors in the DC metro area.

I've been a member on Bigger Pockets for a couple of weeks now and I've spent that time reading the UBG, countless blog posts, and listening to the BP Podcast. I've been interested in real estate investing since high school and now that I'm able to afford it, I would really like to get started.

My initial goal was to invest in a multi-family home and live there rent free while bringing in additional cash flow. However, during my preliminary search of the area, it seems as if the DC metro area may be a little too pricey to get started here. I'm now wondering if I may need to start investing farther away/out-of-state. 

Anyway, in the mean time I've been doing as much research as I can and I'm working on creating my own personal guide/investment plan with enough information to be successful. I'm so grateful that I found this Bigger Pockets community and I'm looking forward to continue learning and meeting everybody!

[Matthew Maggy]

Richmond is a pretty hot market right now, especially in certain neighborhoods (Church Hill, the Fan, Museum District), but if you've got money, know-how, and time, there are a ton of opportunities to fix up broken houses for buying and holding. I'm not sure about flipping after fixing as I'm not in that game I work for a very small GC and from what I've seen flipping to sell does not have huge margins in the hotter neighborhoods (North Church Hill) right now. 

We're closing on a duplex in Highland Park. It's definitely an area where the growth and revitalization if it reaches, will not be there any time soon. It does, however, offer lots of inexpensive, cash flowing properties.

To iterate, I'm a small time rel estate investor, so you definitely want to consult an RE professional before taking this advice to heart lol.