Newbie from Centreville, Virginia

[Stacy Weng]

Hey BiggerPockets community!

I'm Stacy from Centreville, Virginia, and my husband and I have been trying to get into real estate investing. We both started exploring real estate investing a couple of years ago, but then we ended up deciding to move out of our condo and into a house, and have been busy with major renovation projects and settling in since. Now that things have settled down, we're ready to start exploring real estate investing again!

Although we're newbs with investing in real estate, we have quite a bit of experience with real estate in general and especially renovations. Besides having taken on pretty major renovation projects for our own properties, my husband also works in construction, and my father in law runs his own general contracting business. While many are intimidated by renovation projects, we actually both love designing spaces and can spend hours browsing kitchen cabinets, tile and flooring just for the fun of it (kidding! ok, maybe not..). 

Our main interest in real estate investing are flips, but we've found it difficult to start flipping in the DMV (DC / MD / VA) area due to the high housing prices, and difficulty in getting enough capital to buy houses in cash. I know there are other creative financing options out there, so I'm really interested in learning about these other options, and possibly finding the right people to partner up with on deals.

I'm excited to join the BiggerPockets community and taking the next step towards real estate investing!

Stacy

[Andrew Kwiatkowski]

Hello all.

With regard to Fix-n-Flip in WV, the markets you're asking about are all in close proximity, but are very much different.

1) Shepherdstown (I do have bias) - small, cutesy college town; higher-end - I've heard it referred to as the Beverly Hills of WV. The volume is small here for true flx-n-flips, but you can find deals from time to time, esp. within the zip codes outside of Shepherdstown proper (try Harpers Ferry and Shenandoah Junction).

2) Charles Town (and Ranson) - in the same county as Shepherdstown, but closer for commuters into Leesburg, etc. Housing developments are popping up all around CT, and they're priced attractively to professionals commuting to the cities. Fix-n-flips are around, but typically you'll be restricted to some of the older, relatively competitive housing stock. Charles Town, IMO, is much better for rentals.

3) Martinsburg - You'll find cheap houses here, and there's a reason for that (heroin - BIG TIME). I'd suggest this is also much more of a rental market, at least in the less affluent areas. Zip Code 25403 is generally Martinsburg west of I81, relatively affluent. I found a deal here just the other day I'm salivating over.