Hello BiggerPocketters.....Put me in coach !

[Channing Chanel]

Hello BiggerPocketters

I have been listening to podcast online for about three weeks now & I’m completely addicted! I’m so excited to be apart of the bigger pockets family and ready to take some further action !

I have been sitting on the sidelines and watching forums and listening to several podcast and I’m ready to jump in! With listening to the podcast I have found a true passion in real estate and I’m ready to further my development and find my next deal.

To introduce myself and give a little background...I’m originally for Iowa, born and raised ...yes i said Iowa haha ! Went to Iowa state (Go Cyclones !! ) and graduated with my BA in Accounting. I then relocated to Seattle 5 years ago and started my accounting career. I am now a Accounting Manager for a real estate PM firm. I just recently purchasedI my first investment property in Tacoma, WA in Sept 2017 so I am a landlord as well ! I have also started courses to obtain my brokers license in WA.

What has brought me to post on The forum is to start inquiring about my next move… I have my first investment property in which has come to be a decent investment, more for the appreciation value and not so much the ROI. Based on comparable comps, my property has some good appreciation and I'm an wanting to use this to acquire a another property. But not sure if i should get a duplex..triplex ...start a flip project ...buy another single family ...so I am asking what next steps would anyone of you take ?

[Ross Denman]

@Channing Chanel I would recommend identifying what's most important to you, identifying your "why"? I would also recommend creating a list of goals... 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years. After doing that you have to evaluate your resources (money, credit, network, friends/family, experience, etc.,) skill set (construction, raising money, networking, marketing, etc.,) amount of time you can commit, and if you are looking for active income or passive income. There are probably many more questions, but this can get you started.

Create a roadmap. Here's what mine looked like:

1. Constantly educate myself. Books, Podcasts, REIA's, networking, workshops, etc.

2. Position myself properly. Pay down debt, save money, work on credit score. Ensure that I have the ability to capture an opportunity that comes my way.

3. I chose to look for jobs in the industry. Because I have a strong entrepreneurial mindset with a sales and business development background, I was looking for a sales/biz dev job. This has allowed me access to a network of active investors in my market, direct access to real estate tools, puts me in the trenches of my local market... all why paying my bills and providing a life for me.

4. Find opportunities to raise working capital. I started by doing joint ventures with homeowners, contractors, investors, etc. Once you have enough capital, you may move towards hard money... I have never used hard money, but I was able to develop relationships that allowed me to access private money. 

5. After raising a certain amount of capital, hold a project as a rental property. I currently am at this stage and just finished my first rental property at the end of the year. I am working on the refinance right now so I can "recycle" my money in to another deal. This will kill the cash flow ($500/year probably) but allows me to continue to operate. Basically BRRRR investing.

6. My goals will be to replace my active income with passive income in another 5 years. I will want to amass about $2-3 million dollars in leveraged assets over the next 5 years. Somewhere around 30-40 doors. I am nowhere near doing 6-8 deals/year, but the further I get, the faster I can ramp things up.

It sounds like you are in a very similar situation as me. You probably need to identify if you want equity or cash flow right now. I'm more interested in assets/equity than cash flow. I can always reposition later for cash flow, but I don't need it right now. Understanding what you want will help determine what to buy next. If you are looking for cash flow, I would recommend a smaller multi-family. If you are looking to build value and a portfolio, I would buy stronger assets that may not cash flow as much. Leverage them with bank financing. Let the tenants money keep everything in check, while the properties grows in value. If this is your strategy, I would recommend trying to find a good deal (20% under market or more) in the suburbs. These are hard to come by, but I see a few of them almost every month in my market.