Newbie from New Jersey looking to invest in KC

[Alex V.]

Hello BP community!

My name is Alex Vlamis. Like many people here I read Rich Dad Poor Dad not that long ago and realized I've been doing it wrong for quite some time. I work on Wall Street in the mortgage securities business, structuring bonds for single family and LIHTC deals. I have an MBA in finance and am a CFA charterholder. Born and raised in NJ, and looking to get started by investing in the Kansas City suburbs.

I joined BiggerPockets to meet and learn from other investors and build up a network of agents, lenders, property managers and so forth. My ultimate goal is to be financially free by forty. I hope to achieve this with buy and hold cash flowing rentals. I am shooting to have 2-3 properties within the next year. I am primarily looking to get started in Independence, Blue Springs, and Lee's Summit suburbs of Kansas City and am looking to rent to young families. Anyway, I am looking forward to getting to know some of the community and am excited to dive into this next chapter of my life! 

Regards,

Alex

[Larry Fried]

@Alex V. Well by all means keep doing your homework here on BP.  I think you will find there is a great deal of discussion across a spectrum of views on buying turnkey vs. building your own team.  One has to decide and weigh the risks vs rewards and largely that can depend on your interests and capacity as an investor.  I do think that turnkey buying can be a good way to enter a market for an out of state investor, so long as you hook up with a really good provider including excellent PM.  And in doing so, I highly recommend travel to the market and meeting with any you are considering including seeing their properties and rehab work.