I graduated this past year from UNC-Charlotte where I played on the Women's Soccer Team and studied Business Management and Management Information Systems. I moved to Atlanta in June and I am currently apart of Chick-fil-A's LDP program. I have have been fascinated with Real Estate Investing since college, but I am now at a point in my life where I have a small (but enough) amount of capital to invest. I am very interested in the Charlotte area, but I am open to the Atlanta area since I currently reside there. I am on the hunt to expand my knowledge and skill set before I dive into my first investment. I'm leaning towards a SFH for my first purchase. If you have any tips on how to start out - I would love to hear!
Starting out is tough but there are some key steps you can take to set yourself up for success.
Steps 1, 2 & 3 would be education, networking and planning. They really should all be happening at once in the beginning (and forever), but education is often the very first step. Education leads to questions (networking opportunities) and allows you to begin formulating a plan to reach your goals. This planning step is important so don't skip it and just hop in. At a minimum figure out why you want to get into Real Estate and where you want it to take you. Having a bit of an "end point" will allow you to work backwards and start building a roadmap to get you there.
Perhaps you have already done this and that is what landed you on SFHs, but you'll definitely want to narrow this down a bit. Pick a city and stick with it in the beginning because starting out in one area is tough enough. I'd recommend learning the ropes a bit where you currently reside and branching out from there. Next comes networking so that you can begin to build your team. Without a good team you'll get nowhere.
Lastly, you don't have to do everything at once so just figure out what your most important next step is and do that. This can be tricky and takes some planning but it's a good strategy to take to anything as overwhelming as Real Estate Investing.
Hope this helps a bit. Please, feel free to reach out anytime if you have questions or just want to chat!
Starting out is tough but there are some key steps you can take to set yourself up for success.
Steps 1, 2 & 3 would be education, networking and planning. They really should all be happening at once in the beginning (and forever), but education is often the very first step. Education leads to questions (networking opportunities) and allows you to begin formulating a plan to reach your goals. This planning step is important so don't skip it and just hop in. At a minimum figure out why you want to get into Real Estate and where you want it to take you. Having a bit of an "end point" will allow you to work backwards and start building a roadmap to get you there.
Perhaps you have already done this and that is what landed you on SFHs, but you'll definitely want to narrow this down a bit. Pick a city and stick with it in the beginning because starting out in one area is tough enough. I'd recommend learning the ropes a bit where you currently reside and branching out from there. Next comes networking so that you can begin to build your team. Without a good team you'll get nowhere.
Lastly, you don't have to do everything at once so just figure out what your most important next step is and do that. This can be tricky and takes some planning but it's a good strategy to take to anything as overwhelming as Real Estate Investing.
Hope this helps a bit. Please, feel free to reach out anytime if you have questions or just want to chat!
@Brenden Mitchum thank you for the warm welcome and the wonderful pieces of advice!!
You offered A LOT of valuable information and I thank you for taking the time to explain it. I鈥檓 excited to get started on this new journey. I see you are in the ATL area as well and I would love to connect.
Hi @Demarcus Crump , I have not! Do you recommend it? I've watched a few of the Bigger Pockets Youtube videos on the "BRRRR method", I found it to be very interesting!
I'd love to hear if you think this would be a good route for someone who has a full time job - would it be manageable to do both? I'm aware no matter which route I go with REI, that it will be hard work. Would love to hear your opinion.
@Jamie Fankhauser in my opinion it鈥檚 completely doable, I find it very intriguing and helpful because it got in to detail on the systems you should have in place as you move forward. Definitely helpful for a full time worker. However it does depend on your investment goals and exit strategy. What is it you are looking to do in the ATL and Charlotte markets?
@Demarcus Crump I will check it out! I'm currently very happy where I am at with work, but I am looking to diversify my income streams and generate passive income through Real Estate Investing. I turn 23 next year and the program I am involved in now prepares you to become an owner/operator of a Chick-fil-A franchise. I end this program in 2022 and then will move onto the next steps. With that being said a lot of my time and dedication will revolve around Chick-fil-A, but I want to start building a small portfolio of properties on the side through the duration of this program. I'm passionate about wanting to get involved in this space and get my foot in the door. I'm looking at it more as a side hustle with where I currently am at in my business career.
@Jamie Fankhauser Wooow, that鈥檚 definitely GREAT NEWS!! I had a close friend go through the same process. CONGRATS! 馃帀
If you ever got any more questions, feel free to reach out for additional info. I鈥檓 located in the Atlanta area, where I have a lot of market expertise and would be glad to share knowledge.
Welcome and Go Niners! My wife and I graduated from UNC Charlotte as well. Still live and work in the area. I see you are looking to do real estate as more as a side hustle. An easier way to start investing is house hacking! Especially if you don't know exactly what you want to do yet. You can live for free/cheap and stack your money while you finish your program. then rent the entire place out when you are done. Hope this helps.
@Jacques Ikolo Hi Jacques, it鈥檚 nice to meet a fellow Niner Alum! It doesn鈥檛 get much better than Charlotte. Thanks for reaching out. I love the idea of house hacking. My lease, for the house I鈥檓 currently in runs out in May, and I know that will be here before I know it. If I do however decide to go the house hacking route, do you have any advice on how to get started?
Hi @Jamie Fankhauser welcome to BP. You are in the right place to get started!. This site has a lot of valuable content to help you in your journey. Check out the webinars, the podcasts, read some of the beginners books/guides and other great resources BP has to offer.
If you are interested in learning more about the Charlotte market, I'll be glad to be a resource for you. Our team has developed a pipeline to get a feel for your current level of investing knowledge, hone in on your goals and develop the best plan moving forward. Happy to chat anytime.
@Jacques Ikolo is absolutely right about house hacking. This is a very powerful strategy for beginners and people looking to do real estate on a more part-time level. Sounds like it could be perfect for yourself!
May is right around the corner so I'd highly recommend reading Craig Curelop's the House Hacking Strategy asap. This book is a fantastic intro to house hacking and gives you most of the information you'll need to get started. I would also recommend starting to build relationships with lenders and REALTOR庐s and start looking at what's in the market. This is important because chances are it will take at least a couple months of searching and putting in offers to get something under contract. Then it'll take about a month to close and that's if the first home you put under contract goes through (not likely). Four months will be gone before you know it so make a decision and take action now!
Please do reach out anytime. Always happy to help in any way I can!
@Jamie Fankhauser glad to see you are joining the BP community right out of college, that is awesome! I, like you, was fascinated by REI in college and made it a goal to purchase my first rental property within 1 year of starting my professional career after college. My first deal was a house hack in Marietta - I highly recommend starting out with this strategy.
Compounded interest is a real thing and the earlier you can start the better. Let me know if you have any questions about ATL!
Yes, find a broker that can help you meet your investment criteria. Buying a home can be stressful for a first time investor: 1. because you still have to train your mind to look for deals instead of the best looking house. 2. you have to find your purpose, what are you investing for? When you keep that in the forefront you will be good.
For house hacking you have to determine your comfortability level. Are you okay with buying a small single family house and having a roommate. Are you comfortable having a larger single family house and having multiple roommates? Are you Comfortable having a multi-family home (duplex-triplex-quadplex) and renting out the other units? (many more factors can go into play like: location, affordability of homes in your area, etc..)
Two books I always recommend is Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) and Brandon Turner's book (Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down) to get started with house hacking.
If you don't feel comfortable and have enough funds that you want to just purchase instead of house hack, you can go the 20% conventional route or BRRRR. But those may involve more time on your part.
@Anthony Fontana Hi Anothony - that's awesome. Congrats on the jump start success into your career! I work in the Dunwoody area and even though I've only been in ATL for 6 months, I've already seen how crazy the traffic can be to work. So I'm interested in the cities right around Dunwoody. Just wanted to see if you have any recommendations of investor friendly agents who would be willing to help find the perfect Duplex? From what I've gathered that is currently the next step I need to take in this process. If you know of anyone, recommendations would be greatly appreciated! (:
@Jacques Ikolo great advice! Thank you for the explanation and perspective given. I'll definitely take a look at those two books as well. Appreciate the help (:
@Jamie Fankhauser Welcome! I'm a newbie as well, prepping for my first purchase. Would love to help be an accountability partner! Also, I love Chick-Fil-A. Mmmmm.
Hi @Jamie Fankhauser, I believe the best way for a newbie to start is with a househack. You can either buy a single family home and rent out the other rooms (you will have to share common spaces) or buy a duplex or triplex and use one of the units while renting out the rest. In both scenarios your mortgage payment + taxes will be covered and you are eliminating the biggest expense of every young person - RENT! You should purchase with an FHA loan which will allow you to only put down 3.5% of the purchase price (You need to reside in the property for at least a year). In the Atlanta or Charlotte area 3.5% is usually less than $15,000.
I saw that you played soccer in UNC. I was actually doing my first househack by renting other rooms to my teammates from my soccer team!
Of course, never stop educating yourself and learning from other people! Keep in mind that many people have been in your shoes and they have found a solution and a path to success. You can either try to figure out everything yourself or get an advice! I recommend getting an advice from 2-3 people with similar experience and then deciding what's best for you!
I will be happy to connect and share my experience if you feel this is the right way for you!
Good luck getting started in the Charlotte area. I echo a LOT of the comments here regarding house hacking. My wife and I talk all the time about what we would do different had we jumped into real estate prior to purchasing a primary residence and we come back to house hacking pretty much every time as a way we could have accelerated our wealth faster (especially as we were living like college students in our first few years in Charlotte anyway).
People have offered very good book recommendations and I would recommend delving into FI (financial independence) if you haven鈥檛 yet. BP money or Choose FI podcasts offer pretty good discussions in regards to this topic.
In reference to the Charlotte market it is a very strong housing market right now. Multi-family are a little harder to come by, however, I think it would be very easy to house hack on a rent per room basis. Very doable if you don't have an HOA or have one that will allow this. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions and good luck in getting your journey started!