Newbie investor hello!

[Aamir Shah]

Hello everyone!

I am a software engineer at Amazon looking to diversify some of my investments into real estate. I have become obsessed with learning everything I can about real estate through biggerpockets. Currently I am looking to invest in buy and hold properties, biasing towards small multifamily.

The two areas I have been looking closely at is Kansas City and Dayton, OH. I am leaning towards Dayton at this point as it seems more untapped than Kansas City. The other option I am entertaining is syndications. There are so many choices, I just need to choose one and stick to it!

Anyways, looking forward to learning more and connecting with like minded people.

[Michael Hastings]

Hi @Aamir Shah, you have come to the right place to get as much information as possible about investing.  I have purchased 5 properties in Dayton over the last 6 months, and I can tell you that the opportunities for solid real estate investing are there.  I choose to start in Dayton (although I live in Denver) due to low price entry points, the market is unsaturated with buyers (so there are still a lot of good buy opportunities), good mix of tenants for rentals and a steady economy at the moment.  I connected with a PM, a property inspector and a few other small investors who are long time residents of the city, and they helped educate me on the area.  Believe me, you need this before you embark on any remote investment.  I also made no less than 4 trips to the area to just look around, get a feel for the area and talk with a few people in city government.

I can tell you that I am no expert at this, and although my investments have been successful so far, this same process can be replicated in 100's of cities, which meet the same criteria that I look for in long term RE investing.  So, be it Dayton or Columbus or Lexington or Kansas City or Dallas or Topeka, KS or OKC, OK or Memphis or Louisville or Boise or Grand Rapids or etc., there is a LOT of ways to invest in and make money in RE for the long or short term.  The keys for me are risk tolerance for the investment, strategy for the term of investing (I am investing for retirement income) and the amount of time you want to spend handling the investment.

So, my point is that although the markets you have mentioned are great, there are several others that also offer the same opportunity.  Look to what is your "why" and then add your "how" to decide on where to invest.  Find a local resident who is a RE professional who can show you the ropes and get you started.

BP will have lots of people you can reach out to and ask questions, all of my initial research about Dayton happen here, and I did nothing more than search for people in Dayton, introduce myself and start asking questions.  Everyone was friendly, helpful and more than willing to provide me contacts as they saw fit.

If I can help answer questions about what I know of Dayton, feel free to message me.