All Forum Posts by: Gary Honda

I’m curious what the difference between a long term and short term rental would be?

Hi all! A bit about me. I’m currently in sales and have 2 years of experience. I have a wife and a 1 year old to provide for. My wife is going to school and a stay at home mom. I’m currently supporting our lifestyle and my wife’s schooling. (No student loans). 

I’m VERY interested in real estate and want to start investing but have a low tolerance for risk because I have people depending on me. The type of investments I’m interested in is rental properties to replace my day job eventually. My goal is to save for a down payment on a rental property and have the funds ready to go in 1-2 years. In that time I’m also working on building my credit score. (I grew up in a household that didn’t believe in credit cards so I didn’t get my first card until a year ago.)

I am thinking about leaving sales and starting a new career that’s more related to real estate. I’m reading everything I can in my free time but would love if my work time was spent learning about this space as well. I’ve considered a few job possibilities and would love to here your recommendations.

- real estate agent (not too excited about this one because of the high risk)
- Working for a builder
- Working for a property manager
- Working for a Lender or a bank
- Working in the auction/foreclosures market? (I’m honestly not sure if there is a job like this. Maybe at the courthouse or for a bank? If anyone knows what title I’m looking for id appreciate it.)
- working for a broker

In summary I need a job that will at least support my family and would like to to be real estate related. Do I stay where I’m at and play it safe or take a swing a changing my career? If so what careers “background” do you wish you’d had before you started investing? 

I know it's always changing. Based on the little research I've been doing I hear that Florida and Pennsylvania are currently great states to invest in. Something to do with the ratio of the average income of the individuals living there to the current growth of the population. Have anyone felt this to be true? If not what State do you feel would be a great place to start an investment journey?

A little background on me. I'm from Boise Idaho and the market here is pretty insane. I've got a real estate agent sending me deals so I can get practice analyzing. I'd love to connect with investors in the area who would be interested in reviewing any deals I find. Because my capital is low right now I don't feel comfortable buying my first property where I live. I'd like to invest out of state with something smaller with a good cash flow to get going. Once I settle on a location I'd like to find an agent and start working with them to analyze deals in a very specific location. 

The short version of this would be:

- What states would you invest in and which states would you avoid?

- Based on my outline above, can you find any flaws in my plan? Would you recommend I change anything?