Hello, world! New User Here

[Randall Degges]

Hi everyone, pleased to be here.

I'm a software developer living in the bay area (Concord, specifically), who's interested in purchasing rental property, and eventually doing more real estate investing.

Some stats about me:

- I'm 28 (I turn 29 tomorrow)

- Married (for 6 years)

- My wife is also a software developer

- I own a home in the bay area as my primary residence (600k)

- My wife and I are currently maxing out my tax-beneficial accounts (401ks, IRAs)

- Outside of tax-beneficial accounts, my wife and I invest in ETFs, etc.

- I'm a novice to real estate investing, so am currently in the learning/discovery phase.

A few of the things I'm currently thinking about:

- Should I even consider the option of purchasing rental properties near where I live? The market here is incredibly expensive compared to the rest of the country. It seems like a "nice" idea because I'd be able to keep an eye on things myself, and potentially even manage the property myself to get a hang of things, but the downside is cost.

- How hard is it to perform rehab work on homes? The house I own now (my first purchase) is pretty new (2007), and doesn't require much work, so I've got 0 experience dealing with contractors, etc.

- Is it still possible to cashflow on properties if I'm buying them out of state, handing property management off to a third party company, and leaving all the rehab work to contractors? I'm sure it IS possible, but is that realistic?

- Do any of you pay off your primary residence before dabbling in real estate investing?