New member in Portland, OR

[Alex Wilson]

Hi,  I joined BP a few weeks ago and lurked a bit and decided to start posting (or well, a post anyhow, I don't have any relevant advice to give so I won't likely be a prolific author here).

In any case, I'm a 34 y/o engineer in Portland, OR.  No debt, credit score of 745 or so, not really expecting it to change much as its currently limited by account age.  I'm currently only researching and it'll probably be a year or so before I have much in the way of expendable capital (also, stuck in a rental lease until May anyhow).  Currently focused on building an emergency account and maxing out my 2018 401k/ira's (when 2018 starts).  Started with those as they're time limited and I have a 25% match on the 401k.  I'd estimate it'll be next summer before I have spare investment capital.  I could (and might, depending on the situation) dip into the emergency fund but that is not my first choice.

My main interest at the moment is house hacking, if that goes well I'd consider other investments.  I have some limited DIY experience (drywall, painting, roofing, etc) and on occasion enjoy tasks like that in my spare time.

Currently reading Larry Loftis's book, 'Investing in duplexes...'  Learning about finance has been a bit of a hobby of mine for the past few years, although this is my first foray into the property side of it (also, the aforementioned learning has resulted in... simply using market index funds).

Thank you for reading my intro.

[Alex Wilson]

@Jacob Wathen

Thanks Jacob.  I got most of my misc. construction skills from HfH, friend's projects, and (briefly) day labor.  I enjoy work like that when I'm not getting paid for it.

I'd probably have enough for an FHA by next summer if I had to guess. It's by no means a deadline, just when my lease goes month to month (and possibly rent increase, I suppose). Gives me time to do some research in any case (including what Dmitriy suggested).