New member from Akron/Cleveland area, Ohio

[Jennifer Dugovich]

Hi all,

I am a 27 year old, full-time zookeeper. I love my job and plan to stay in it (for now). However, because it's a competitive, animal-related, "fun" job, the pay is pretty low. I want to keep my job, but I also want to live more comfortably than I can currently. I am definitely a "do-er," and I was first attracted to REI through articles on flipping, thinking to do a live-in flip and do what work I could myself. I'm still very much learning and researching, and thinking maybe contracting out the majority of the work is a better plan. The information available is amazing, but also very overwhelming and I am not sure where to start.

I'm currently in some credit card and student loan debt and looking for advice on whether it's smarter to get more in debt to be able to start with flipping/house hacking sooner, or to continue to read for the year and a half to two years or more it will take me to get rid of my debt and save enough for a down payment.  Opportunity cost!

My ultimate goal to start with is to do enough flips to pay for a house of my own in full.  Not having a house payment/rent payment will make following my passion for animal care a lot less stressful money-wise.  

Thanks for any help and welcomes!