All Forum Posts by: Chris Duzan

Looking for REIA's in the Columbia area or any others that are nearby. Any information on them would be helpful. Just looking to learn more about my area. Thanks

Thanks again for everyone's answers, they have been really helpful and I've been really thinking this through. I just have one more question.

If I will be living in the same building I'm renting out, say a duplex or 4-plex, would it make since to still use a property manager or would I manage it myself?

Thanks for all your replies,

John Rubino: Considering this is my first property, do you think it would be more beneficial for me right now if I managed it myself? I thought this might help me understand what to look for in a good property manager when I do begin to expand.

Aaron Mazzrillo: Thanks, I'm planning on looking in the Columbia area, at least for my first property. Do you not like using property managers at your other properties or what do you not like about being so spread out?

James Vermillion: This sounds like a good idea considering the fact I'm going to be needing a place to live after graduating next year. Are their benefits or disadvantages to doing this?

Sorry to bother you again Brandon, but I still seem to be having trouble getting a profile picture.

Collin,
I've been reading some of the Rich Dad books and I have gotten really interested in Real Estate. I've been wanting to go to one of his seminar's but I haven't had a chance to. I would like to hear about how that went. But I'm like you, the Rich Dad Coaching service is a little too expensive for me right now but I just began reading one of his books called "The ABC's of Real Estate Investing" by Ken McElroy. I think you should take a look at this if you already haven't, it walks you through all the basic steps of acquiring real estate and how to manage property. And then you can research more on the steps after. If you do read it I would like to know what you thought about it.

Best of luck to you.

I am currently living and going to school in Columbia, SC. I am looking for a single-family home or a duplex with positive cashflow for my first property. Something I can buy and hold. Once I get the hang of it I will start looking for larger deals, but I thought this would be a good place to start and not as punishing when learning from my mistakes. However, Columbia is not exactly an Atlanta, GA or Charlotte, NC and I was wondering if I should focus really hard on looking for a good property in my area or would it be worth going farther away, to say Charlotte(about 1.5 hours away), with a higher work force and most likely a higher demand for housing. I just wanted to get an idea of what everybody thought. Thanks ahead of time for all your answers.

Chris

Thanks for the welcome Brandon, and thanks for the article. I'm still trying to learn all the ins and outs of REI, so I'm not quite ready to start buying anything yet, but so far the resources on the site have been very helpful.

And as for the photo, I tried uploading one several times but it doesn't want to work for some reason.

Hey, my name is Chris and I'm new to Biggerpockets and real estate investing. I'm 21 and still in college but I want to start working on securing my financial future. My interest started when I stumbled upon the Rich Dad Poor Dad series last year and since then I've been looking to increase my knowledge on investing, specifically real estate.

I still don't feel quite ready to buy anything yet(nor do I have the money right now), but I'm more than willing to learn anything I can about real estate. I'm particularly interested in the Buy and Hold strategy and gaining positive cash flow.

I'm excited to meet everyone and learn about your past experiences and future goals and I hope that soon enough I will be able to return the favor.