New from Los Angeles and Ready to Go

[Alma Kenup]

After teaching and travelling abroad for 8 years, I  am finally relocating back to the U.S. and am excited to jump into real estate. Well, I've been reading up about it for the past year or so, so I think it's more accurate to say i'm eagerly tiptoeing into this realm.

My family and I spent almost a decade saving our foreign-earned income and are ready to branch out from just index fund investing (which I admittedly enjoy). I am ready for a more hands-on approach and am willing to put in the time it will take to be successful in real estate.

I plan to pursue multi-family rentals for monthly cash flow. Yes, I know that sounds crazy coming from Los Angeles. And it's for that reason that my family and I plan to migrate to another area of the U.S. within the next few months. We hope to take advantage of the lower cost of living (and more favorable tax laws) in other states to get started. 

The plan is to initially to take on house-hacking to experience/learn firsthand the finer points of renting and managing a property. While I am not opposed to out-of-state rentals, I've come across some hair-raising horror stories on BP that make me even more weary of the prospect than I was before. Either way, buy-and-hold is what I've zeroed in on.

I have 6 BP tabs open on my Chrome browser and am honestly feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information (webinars, books, discussion threads etc.) on the site. I am finding it a bit hard to reconcile the "Go now!" directives with the "Wait-- don't be too eager!" messages. 

Looking forward to meeting with and connecting with more experienced minds.