New Investor from Philadelphia, PA

[Jorge Santiago]

Hey BP!

My name is Jorge Santiago and I am just getting started on my path of real estate investing. I work in the finance field and have finally decided to invest in real estate as well in order to create passive income for my future.

I currently live in the West Chester/Exton, PA area and am familiar with the greater Philadelphia region as a whole. My short term goal is to house-hack a multi-family unit to cashflow while at the same time saving on the largest expense we all have, housing! I'm aiming at early 2018 to actually pull the trigger on a property but am looking to engage with real estate agents now that have investor experience to step up my search efforts. (Feel free to recommend any local agents that have experience with RE Investing). Currently searching in areas such as West Chester, Exton, Phoenixville, & Conshohocken but am open to any recommendations too! Long term I aim to build a portfolio of multi unit properties to create a passive income to support my future family.

 I have no experience buying/selling property before as I have only ever rented but have learned a ton in the last 2 months I've spent reading forums and listening to the BP podcasts. Making my profile is the first step in what I hope will be a long future investing in real estate. I'm very excited to be an active member of the BP community and am looking forward to connecting with like-minded individuals in my area. If you're in or around the West Chester to Philadelphia area I would love to talk about the local real estate markets and learn from more experienced investors.

[Dave Van Horn]

Hi Jorge,

Welcome to the site! I actually live in the West Chester/Exton area as well but my business is based out of Newtown Square (though we operate nationwide). Love your plan of house hacking a multi-family, I often suggest it to younger investors breaking into Real Estate.

If you're looking to connect with investor friendly agents and other investors in person you may also be interested in checking out our local REIA Group, DIG (Diversified RE Investor Group). Their main meetings are in Ambler, PA but they also have subgroups all over the South Eastern PA region - including a monthly subgroup meeting in Chester County.

Going to DIG was a game changer for me and expanded my network like crazy and opened up a lot of doors. Along with diving deep into BP (podcasts, forums, blog, etc), I highly recommend checking them out especially if you're just getting started in the business.

I attend as often as possible too, so maybe I'll see you at a meeting!

Best,

Dave