New from Austin, Looking for Advice on how to Start Investing

[Christina Truong]

Hey everyone, my name is Christina Truong. I recently (June 2016) became interested in real estate investing and am currently learning as much as possible. I’ve read a few books, watched some videos and stumbled upon this website. I’m from Round Rock, Texas but I’ve lived in Austin for the past five years working on my degrees at the University of Texas. 

I'd really like to know where to start, as I have no idea how to begin investing, from what a good deal looks like to how to finance it. I have read so much about the types of properties you can invest in, how to profit from real estate and the different ways you can finance them, but I have never taken a loan out before (other than for school through FAFSA), and I am not sure how to jump in. I have not graduated and built up enough funds without borrowing money to start investing yet, but I plan to start set aside savings and am open to taking out loans such as an FHA after I graduate in order to begin my investing career.

As a beginner, I am interested in single-family homes and the smaller 1-4 units to start out with. I plan to manage (and possibly live in) my own property first so I can learn more about it before transitioning to hiring out management for larger properties. 

I just got accepted into a 10 month program in Fort Worth, Texas before I complete one of my degrees, so I will be living there temporarily in a multi-family home with my dog. Right now I tend to be quite shy and am working on developing friendships and putting myself out there more so I can start building up my social and networking skills. My dog and I love hiking together and we love going to Zilker for the lake and the beautiful trails around Barton.

Any advice on the steps I should take in order to become an investor or friendship would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to read this post and welcoming a newbie to the fold.

[Jay DeCima]

Christina

Let me make a slight change in what you are looking at that can have a huge effect on your investing. Instead of a 4-plex, start thinking just a little differently.

My biggest success over the years came from buying GROUPS (5-8 houses) of older homes on a single parcel, in older, blue collar parts of town (not slums). Because banks will not finance these types of properties, 90% of the time I got seller financing (on over 250+ rental homes I had at my high point). The seller knew he/she would be taking back the financing. I did not have to talk them into it. My down payments usually were around 10%.

I suggest you read up on a few kinds of investing you are interested in and then pick the one you think would be the best for you, and one that will not require a boatload of cash to start. Then find the best mentor or expert you can in that kind of investing. Learn from that person and stay focused on their kind of investing. Find some of these mentors on a Google. See how many pages of results pop of for them. 

I have many related blogs on my website.  Go to the website address in my BP signature or profile (fixerjay.com), then on top right side of page, see the search box, type in "PLAN".

I also just started a BP blog and will be posting many ideas for newbies, 

Good luck.

Fixer Jay DeCima