Hello, new investor from Sacramento!

[Chad W.]

Hello everyone,

I have been lurking around here for a few weeks as I try to put my head around my future as a landlord. I am in that phase where I am reading and learning as much as I can and trying to figure out exactly how I want to "get into the game."

Currently I am 8 years into a 30 year loan on my primary residence and am a joint tenant along with my grandmother on a paid off home in Vacaville.

I will soon have access to enough cash (a new first on the VV property & existing HELOC) to get a running start (120 - 200k) and am starting to look at property and run the math through my head.

My biggest challenge right now is fear of making a mistake and a general inability to estimate make ready costs. I literally have no idea how much various repairs cost.

I have a good friend that has several properties and I am hoping to duplicate his success. With that that said, I also need to find my own way as I don't have the handyman skills or the flexible schedule his work allows. On the plus side I have 800+ credit and access to much cheaper credit than most people so, I am hoping to leverage that smartly.

Any advice appreciated and thanks to all of you for your thoughts, posts and articles here.