New Investor in Sacramento

[Jared Hook]

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the BiggerPockets forum. I am 21 year old college student looking to invest in real estate in Sacramento, CA. I played college basketball the last two years of my life but my career was cut short due to ongoing injuries. After losing my job due to the corona virus I picked up a few financial books starting with Rich Dad Poor Dad. I eventually found my way to the BiggerPockets books and just finished reading both of Brandon Turners books and planning to start The Book On Flipping Houses tomorrow. I am very new to all of this but super intrigued and yearning to learn more. I am not sitting on a whole lot of money right now and I know California is a tough place to invest in real estate. I plan to keep reading and educating myself until I am able to save some money to make my first investment. The house hacking strategy seems to be the perfect way into the real estate game. I would love any advice on how to start investing (especially in California). I am not sure if this is how the forum is supposed to be used but Brandon is always mentioning how great it is in his books so I thought I would give it a shot. Thanks for reading, and I would greatly appreciate any advice!

[Abel Curiel]

Hello @Jared Hook and welcome to the BP forums!

You're in the right place... this is where you can post your questions and get responses from the community.

A good way to start would be to connect with a local lender to determine what you would need in order to qualify for a house-hack deal in your market. They'll let you know where you stand with your current income and savings.

Being that you recently lost your job, you will undoubtedly have trouble getting approved for a loan now BUT that doesn't mean your goal is unattainable. Keep educating yourself, get back on your feet and connect with like-minded people in your market. You can always find a partner/co-signer to help you qualify for your first deal.

Lastly, here are some tips that could help you as a new BiggerPockets member:

1. complete your BP profile - be as detailed and specific as possible when mentioning your goals. There are many people with value to add to you and plenty of people you can add value to as well!

2. use the 'search' function to find topics, members and areas of interest. Get answers to your questions and find people using this function!

3. Set up keyword alerts so that you can receive notifications once a topic or area of interest in mentioned in one of the forums. Its a great way to stay current!

4. Check out the Events tab at the top to find local meet ups around you.

Best of luck to you moving forward!

Abel