New member from Frankfort, Kentucky

[Carlos Felix]

Hello!

My wife and I have literally zero experience, but have recently looked into real estate. We're already on the path of reigning in our spending, started paying down student loans, generally getting out of debt, and reading some personal finance books.

My wife, Maggie, spoke to a friend that was getting pretty good passive income from real estate. It sparked something, and since then we've picked up some books, started reading, and are now joining the forum. We started with Rich Dad, Poor Dad (sorry ;-) ), Millionaire Next Door, Loopholes of Real Estate (another Rich Dad series), and I'm currently reading Starting a Corporation (yet another RD book). Obviously, we'll have to branch out to find a bit less guru info, and some newer, more reputable sources.

We're here to make contacts, and learn as much as we can. We're interested in small multifamily, buy and hold homes. We're already started to work some of the numbers, and to our newbie eyes, it seems that in this area, duplexes don't quite pass the cash flow rules. Four-plexes seem to be the ticket, based on the slight increase in sale prices around here (between a 2 and 4 plex), but you get twice the possible rent income. Are we mistaken in that line of thought?

Anyway, we are hear to spend some time (we're planning on the rest of the year) on studying and coming up with a solid business plan. It's funny, because as soon as we mentioned an interest, people have already been offering us their properties, but we are definitely saying no so that we avoid the early (and easily avoidable with the right advice) mistakes in this process. 

Thanks for all the help!

Sincerely,

Carlos & Maggie