New member from Kansas City, MO area (Blue Springs)

[Matt R.]

Hello, all!

I am a new member from Blue Springs, Missouri - an east suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.  I grew up in Independence, Missouri, lived for about a year in Dallas, Texas, then lived in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma for about 11 years, before moving back up to the KC area.

I've never been on the investor or owner-of-rental-property side of things.  I've done some of the usual things on the tenant and homeowner side.  I grew up watching and helping Dad do normal maintenance things on a house.  I've been the new roomie that was added to the lease on half of a duplex.  I've rented an apartment in Texas on my own.  I bought a single-family house in Tulsa, lived in it, and then sold my half of it when I moved back to KC.  In KC, I bought a fixer single-family house and fixed it, doing some of the work myself, and contracting some of it out; I now live in that house and own it outright.

My two main ideas for real estate investing include 1) buying a single-family home or a duplex in good condition, and renting it out, and 2) buying a single-family home that needs rehab, doing the work, and then selling it again (fix and flip).  I'm leaning towards #1 at the moment, but some of the "tenant horror stories" on BP are making me think about #2.  :)  Either way, I am mostly interested in properties that are relatively close to where I live, and where I think I have some knowledge of the area - Blue Springs, Lee's Summit, south Independence.

My goal is for real estate investing to make enough cash flow to cover my regular bills.  That way I don't have to work so hard at a "real job".

I am lucky in that I have some funds I can use for investing that are separate from the funds that pay the bills and the groceries, so even if I completely screw up investing, I don't have to live under a bridge.

Thanks!

Matt R.