New and Looking for Advice

[Alyssa De Los Santos]

Hello, My name is Alyssa and I'm in San Antonio, TX. 

I’m new to real estate investing and I am looking for some advice. I have about 20k set aside for my first deal but I am nervous to put all my eggs in one basket. In other words I don’t want to spend the entire 20k on this first one in case it goes south.

I’ve looked into getting a multi-family or single family property to rent out but single family doesn’t appeal to me because I feel like there would be limited room for growth. I like the idea of Multi-family but I can only afford properties with a lot of deferred maintenance in lower income neighborhoods.

I thought about renting a unit and subletting it as an Airbnb to limit the risks of in 6 months to a year, whenever the lease ends, if I don’t like the results I could simply move on but I don’t know how to find a landlord willing to partner with me on this. I would like to make it beneficial for both of us by either giving the landlord/property owner more than market rent or giving them a percentage of the bookings. I’m just not sure where/how to find the right person and property for this.

I have also looked into fix and flips but I’m not even sure where to start with that. Maybe after I get a little bit more experience and money under my belt.

Does anybody know a good jumping off point for somebody with my budget and limited experience? Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for the advice. 

[Andrew Postell]

@Alyssa De Los Santos There's a lot to your posts here so I'll try to tackle one at a time:

• Multi-family, not in lower income neighborhoods - In Texas, owning property is so inexpesive in relation to other markets.   In New York City the average home price is $750,000.  In San Francisco it's $700,000.  In those really high value markets multi-unit family homes are the only way that many people can even afford to live in those cities.  And those cities have lots of options for 2-4 unit properties. Multi-family homes provide a lower cost of living for people.  So in San Antonio, where the average home price is $250,000, multi-family properties provide the same solution - lower cost of living.  By default, if you are looking for a multi-family unit property, you will be looking in a below average neighborhood - at best!  We don't have that many 2-4 unit properties here as other states because the price point for home ownership is so much lower.  I would suggest, if you have a hard time with lower income neighborhoods, to think of Single Family Homes.  You will be able to afford a significant amount more with a Single Family home and the neighborhood will be different.
• Finding a Property Manager - Most property managers are used to Air BNB now.  They do take a percentage of the rent, just like they would take a percentage on a lease, so either call to some property management companies or go to some real estate networking groups in your area to speak with some fellow investors to see who they use.  This will not be hard to find.
• Where to Start - In addition to going to real estate networking groups I would suggest to use Bigger Pockets and google to help you learn about other important items.  There might even be some "mentors" in your area that would be willing to take you along on some real estate transaction to show you what to look for.  Questions like "how much should I offer on a home?" to "What would the After Repair Value be" are going to be questions you will want to know how to answer.

I hope this points you in the right direction.  Thanks!