New investor in Lansing, MI

[Ethan Evans]

Hello!  My name is Ethan Evans and I'm new to Bigger Pockets and investing.  I live with my family in the Lansing, MI area and am looking to buy my first investment property as a buy-and-hold rental.

I have a real estate agent that I've worked with previously and am now getting an LLC setup for this first property. I grew up as a Dave Ramsey so I want to do a 15 year mortgage on my rental properties, but still have more learning to do about other types of financing and what makes sense for my strategy and comfort level.

I am also seeking a quality rental management company as I don't want to manage all of the day to day as I'm getting started.  Any recommendations are most appreciated!

For the property itself, I want to start small and buy under $80,000 either a single family or multi family home, preferably with tenants already, and something that's already in good condition.  I'll try some fixer-uppers later on; my day job keeps me pretty busy right now.

I'm looking forward to meeting many of you in the forums and value any advice and encouragement you can offer this guy!

[Sean Sloop]

@Ethan Evans

Hey Ethan, I invest in Lansing. I use DS Huber for PM.

Best of luck getting started. You can definitely find a property for less than $80k. That is probably a little steep actually for a SFR in Lansing.

Another tip I have heard (you can take or leave this). Instead of a 15 year mortgage, you can get a 30 yr mortgage and pay it as of it was on a 15 yr schedule. This allows flexibility in case you need extra funds randomly.