Young guy breaking into East Coast REI, while working in NYC

[Eric Bette]

Hello BP Community!

My name is Eric and I am a 27 year old looking to get into Buy-and-Hold REI.

You've most likely heard my story before (well, not MY story per se). I graduated college, joined the work force and have been pushing forward my career, and now, 6 years in, yearn for something that will provide me with financial freedom sometime not-too-far down the road. I currently gross around $120K per year and plan to maintain this income through the first many years of my REI journey.

So far: I'm educating myself on the process of REI by reading books, following the forums, attending webinars, etc. I've got a general idea of my plan, which I'm drafting formally on my desktop. In the meantime, I'm saving income as best I can and doing the best I can to prepare myself for the parts of my plan that I know aren't going to change. However, I've found that it's hard to research for certain parts of the plan, so here I am!

The plan (so far):

• Pre- Q3 2019: Reach $130K in assets ($70K liquid)
• Q3 2019: Move from the west coast to NYC. This will be a lateral transfer for my day job and will put me within striking distance of (what I think are) my target market(s).
• EOY 2019: Purchase my first SFH, Duplex, or 3Plex in the Northeast US, but outside of NYC. I'm fuzzy on my intended down-payment here, but to me, the most important thing is that the numbers work. My research shows that a 20% down payment in CNY will likely range from $15K-$30, which are within my means.
• My tentative plan is to invest in property in the Central/Western New York (Syracuse, Buffalo) area. Not only is this where I’m from and an area I know well, the prevalence of colleges in this area (and in NYS in general) create a high demand for rental property. Additionally, both property prices and labor prices are generally low in these areas.
• /bridge
• EOY 2030: Achieve $150K per year in passive income.

I understand how incomplete this plan is, and the truth is: it is. But I’m working on fleshing it out.

With all that said, I have come with some questions that will help me refine my plan:

• What else can/should I be doing to prepare myself to begin investing next year?
• Does anyone have any insights (or better yet, educational materials!) on renting in a “college-town”? My assumption would be that vacancy rates may be somewhat inflated due to summer vacation, but I’m not sure.
• Are there any good educational materials on state-by-state pros/cons? I understand that NY has high taxes and somewhat tenant-friendly policies, but haven’t found any great documentation on this. I’d also be willing to pivot into another area in the northeast if the numbers looked substantially better.
• Is there any good materials or anecdotes that you have in regards to renting from a distance (4-6 driving hours)? Is it possible/within reason to manage your own property while living so far away AND working a full-time job? My current assumption is that outsourced property management will be 100% necessary, but I’m interested in your opinions on this.
• If you’ve gone through this experience: what was your “path out of” your current job? Did you have a milestone in mind, and when you hit it, you quit?

Thanks for any and all insight you have. I’m extremely excited to get into this game. Additionally, if you have any questions for me, feel free to ask away!

Eric