New to investing, not sure where to start

[Veronica R.]

Hi all! I'm a medical student in the Upstate area of South Carolina. My husband and I bought our first house last year and have had a lot of fun renovating it. He's a contractor and handles the heavy lifting, and I've gotten pretty adept with a paintbrush. We've been considering getting into the real estate game, and trying to figure out where to jump in.

In the next year, our income is going to double. I'll be going from a full-time student to a medical resident. I'm part of a loan repayment program so we don't have high student loan debt to worry about (while I do have some, it will be forgiven after a certain number of years of service.)  We're living and saving well on our current income, and I would like to take a portion of our increase next year and start with investing. Right now we're paying down our minimal debts, maxing out retirement accounts, and squirreling away down payments.

There's a chance we may end up moving and renting out our current house, but the market here is very favorable and the average rent for a home like ours is about $500/month more than our mortgage/homeowners/tax payment. There's also a chance we'll end up staying. Either one would be fine for us. We qualified for the house on one income, and can easily maintain the mortgage even if we don't rent it out. Obviously not our plan, but we've got the safety net.

I'm currently looking at what our best options would be to start in real estate investing. Neither of us come from very well-to-do families and so the idea of having extra money to invest is a foreign concept. Thankfully we're both cheap and value financial stability! :) Considering we'll have two steady incomes and have a relatively low cost standard of living, we're both comfortable with some higher risk investments.

I'm really here to read and learn, and figure out where to start! :)