New San Diego investor looking to buy in Memphis (at first)

[Daniel Larsen]

Hello BiggerPockets,

First, I'm thoroughly impressed by the community and amount of free resources here.  I've been lurking the forums daily for the past few months and have gleamed lots of information from the depths of BP.  It's allowed me to see all the possibilities in real estate and answer any questions I may have with a simple search.  I love that there are contributors here with many different niches and experience levels.

I've been interested in real estate investing for the past few years but haven't had the money or true motivation to get serious about it until now.  I own no houses, but am in the process of investing some of my retirement funds with Holdfolio and I also invest with Groundfloor.   My ultimate goal is financial independence.  I love what I do but I would rather not HAVE to do it.

My goal with real estate is income replacement with an emphasis on long term buy and hold in out of state markets. Making passive income from real estate is great but I'm not opposed to being a bit more active also.  

In the past 2-3 months I've spent multiple hours each day researching online and reading library books on real estate.  I feel that I've gotten to the point where I need to just jump in and get my feet wet with that first property.  Through conversation with friends I've already acquired 2 partnerships

A buddy I work with wants to invest in my hometown (Memphis).  We will probably buy in the next month or two if we can nail down our strategy and get our business plan set.  I've looked into turnkeys, but I have the time and motivation to acquire properties from a wholesaler which only need some cosmetic work done. The goal would be  long term buy and hold.  I'm currently looking at a strategy involving auction.com, rehab, rent, refinance but that seems like a bit much for a newbie that's out of state.  

My next partner is a friend who is selling his out of state condo and wants the money to stay in real estate.  He's expecting a large profit and I'm pushing him towards the 1031 route but I need to do more research.  With the amount of money he has, I'm thinking multiple quads or small commercial multifamily buildings.  I haven't decided on a market yet, but I'm researching the markets named in the Milken Institutes Best Performing Cities Report  Again, the strategy would be long term buy and hold.

I'm looking forward to meeting and networking with any investors.  Lunch is on me if you're in San Diego and you let me pick your brain!