Aspiring and New to Real Estate

[Greg Dowdell]

Hey Y'all!

All time lurker first time poster.

I am brand new to real estate and have a lot of energy that I am spending on research and developing my understanding of the market place. Currently I am listening to the BP podcast and am loving it. I plan to listen to all of them as well as Rod Kleif's podcast which is the reason I found out about BP from one of his interviewees and their success here. 

I stumbled my way here from listening to Joshua Sheats Radical Personal Finance podcast which featured Rod Kleif. He depicted the area of multifamily real estate being the only segment he didn't get his butt handed to him in the in the financial crisis of 2007-2008. 

I studied Entrepreneurial Management at URI and graduated in the winter of 2014. I've been working the sales grind in Data Center IT for the last 2 years and am always looking for more ways to increase my take home. When I listen to these podcasts and read the books it seems like an absolute no brainer.

I'm looking to house hack my first investment in the Rhode Island market with a multifamily unit hoping for a 3-4 unit house. I've been thinking back and forth on the house flipping to raise the capital for the 20% downpayment or doing about 5% down but paying the PMI and the interest amount to the bank bothers me somewhat over the course of 30 years. The BRRRR strategy is another big interest of mine for a year or two down the road. I have strong roots here with friends in the carpentry and electrician business and family with some commercial real estate that should come in handy.

I recently went to the RIREIG meeting this past Thursday. The meeting itself was good but the discussion of 1031 exchanges for me right now was unrealistic since I don't even own a piece of property. Right now I am reading John Schaubs Building Wealth One House At A Time and previously read Lifetime Cashflow Through Multifamily Properties by Rod Khleif. I'll be moving to Brandon Turners Investing in Real Estate With No (and Low) Money Down next. The webinars every Wednesday on BP have been great and I plan on going Pro shortly.

If anyone wants to get together that is in the Rhode Island (RI, Providence, Pawtucket, Southern Massachusetts, Cranston, and Warwick) I'd be happy to meet up and grab coffee or lunch. I'm currently paying someone else's mortgage in the East Side of Providence. My goal is to buy and hold with doing a lot of sweat equity if I need to. I was raised in southern RI and am looking all over the state right now. Is anyone having particular luck in any area? Hoping the coming months bring some good opportunities. 

I currently am working with an agent in the area but feel like the are adding absolutely no value to the search process other than access to MLS. Can anyone in the area off valuable insight or am I better off going solo and offering an increased percentage to the sellers agent?

I look forward to your responses!