Boston-based Newbie Looking to Invest with Friends

[Reggie S.]

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I am a recent college grad (blessed to not have any debt) working at a small-to-medium sized biotech company in Boston. I have a group of about 5 friends in a similar circumstance who are interested in pursuing real estate as an investment vehicle. 

We would like to invest in a city that we know. Members of the group primarily live in Boston, New York, and Atlanta, and we have ties to Chicago, Memphis, and Detroit.

 We are particularly interested in cashflowing multifamily properties where a member of the group could live so that we can take advantage of as many first time homeowner perks as possible.

My main question is: How should we get started? Do you have suggestions for tools to help with goal-setting and creating a group structure? 

A slightly significantly more involved question: How do I take the desired monthly income that the group would like to collect from the property and back-calculate the down payment we need to save up in order to purchase a property?