New member in Jersey City, NJ

[Brook L.]

Hello everyone! My name is Brook and I live in Jersey City, NJ. I've also lived in Richmond, VA and Los Angles. I'm a freelance fashion designer and I own an etsy shop with my wife where we sell vintage clothing. We set up our LLC for the store in May of this year so that's been a learning experience.

We are definitely not rolling in the dough, but I have some retirement money saved and I also own a one bedroom condo which I live in (my wife lives in the condo with me part time, and the rest of the time she lives in Brooklyn). I pay the mortgage for the condo and she pays rent in her Brooklyn apartment. An unusual living situation perhaps but it's working well for what we need right now.

Anyways, we are planning on moving in together full time in March, and renting an apartment in Brooklyn. We will rent out my Jersey City condo and save the cash flow from that (probably will be somewhere between $300-$500 per month).  Ideally we want to buy and hold additional properties to rent out. Probably in Jersey City or Union City because they are areas I'm knowledgeable about. In January I am planning on getting my real estate license (probably in NJ, possibly NY as well). I want to do that so I can have the best access to seeing new properties. Also I just want to learn more about real estate in general and believe getting the license would be a great way to do that.

My wife and I are a long ways from buying property to rent out, but the gears are in motion. My goal is for us to gain financial freedom and be our own bosses within the next ten years at most. 

Hope to learn lots here!