new member starting out in real estate

[Nick Eckemoff]

Hi,

From about 18 to 25 years old, I used my spare time to completely renovated an old loghouse and today I live in it (no mortgage or rent). My career focus has always been IT and I have made a decent living to be considered 'upper middle class' today. I turned 30 when 2017 started and this made me realize that I really need to start investing in order to advance because a better job wont pay significantly more and I am perfectly happy doing what I do now. Instead of working for money, I want money to work for me.

I have done pretty well with stocks. I tried buying 'larger safer stocks' then waiting till they go up or down 2-5% selling. I tried 'high risk penny stocks' and didn't want to go down that path (its nerve wrecking to see your savings bounce up and down 10-20%!). I tried to get involved and understand the stock market in efforts to control my investments, but came to the realization that its simply not predictable and I can't get interested. It feels like gambling...I want to invest in something I understand and have at least some control over. Real estate has always been in the back of my mind and now I have saved enough to buy a house.

After about 6 months of research (lots of excellent discussion on the forums here!), I am looking for my first investment property to use as a rental. I want to focus on purchasing 100-150k single family homes in class C+ zones that rent 1% of the value (located near good job opportunity) AND that I can purchase at a discount (50-70%) because they are distressed. I would rehab them myself to add value and save cost. Possibly could sell the home as a flip instead of renting as well. I would be able to do the work myself because my full-time job is only 3 days per week.