New to Real Estate, no background. 26 and working full time

[Jacob Phillips]

Hello, everyone!

I am new to Bigger Pockets and to the Real Estate world, with goals to invest in buy and hold rentals, especially multifamily.

I turned 26 in December, and started my career as an orchard manager near my hometown in rural mid-Missouri back in July. The new job has provided me the opportunity to finally do all the things with my money that I knew I needed to do but didn't always have the means to. In six short months, I have taken my savings from a mere couple hundred to now within a few hundred of a fully funded "safety net." I have contributed my 10% to my IRA, and started to really crack down on my student loans. I may even soon be able to take advantage of expense free housing provided by my employer, which will help to further work towards my goals. In other words, things are going really well for me.

All that considered, the thought occurred to me "Ok, most people my age who are getting it figured out are about to go and buy their first home. I don't need to do that, my job has a house for me. Why don't I buy a house that can just make me money?"

And so here I am. My goal is to find a -plex or handful of -plexes in my hometown in order to gain experience and just learn the ropes, and ultimately scale into the Springfield or maybe KC markets and beyond. My dad and I will probably tackle this together in the beginning; he especially is tremendously handy and could probably fix a UFO if it fell out of the sky. I've began searching different realtors' websites to see what's out there around me and really don't have a lot to choose from, but have focused on one fully leased duplex. Rents in my area are pretty modest and I'm not necessarily looking for the homerun around here. It could be the wrong way of thinking, but I figured anything that had positive cashflow and gained me experience would be a win.

As an outdoorsman, I love my job, and plan to stick with it for the foreseeable future, but I yearn to gain financial independence and indulge in my hobbies and be a family man when that time comes.

I am here to learn all that I can from everyone that I can. I am completely raw. I have no capital to speak of, and therefore would like to learn how to creatively finance deals. I'm here to learn the lingo, the ins and outs, the legalities, financing--I am humbled to say that I bring no real background to the game. Just hard work and desire.

I could especially use help in finding and evaluating deals. I have no idea what numbers to look at or even how to get this information as "practice" without unintentionally wasting someone's time. I have loads of questions and a huge desire to learn from whomever I can.

If you've stuck with me this far I thank you for your interest, and I invite anyone in all walks of this journey to drop me a line.  I would love to bend anyone's ear that can offer insight, or simply follow along with another "newb" as we begin this endeavor.

Happy New Year!