Quote from @Amanda Black:
Hi all. I live in San Diego, CA where everything is expensive. I want to start investing in real estate, so I put an offer in on a 1/1 condo that I could afford (awesome location, good size, needs some aesthetic upgrades). I met with an investor today and he said I am on the slowest, worst road to owning more property quickly. He advised me to go find a multi-family home and explained all the reasons why. I can not afford anything like that in California, so I was looking in Ohio (where I have some family) instead where it is affordable. It looks like I could maybe break even or be a little under each month going this route. I don't want to buy something just to own my own home, I want to buy something to eventually make money and buy more properties. But buying in a state I don't want to be in also seems scary/risky. I would buy in Ohio and rent in San Diego.
What are you thoughts? I know I didn't ask anything very specific, but I would like to hear your experiences especially if your first property was somewhere far away.
Never just take blind advice from someone. Ask him why. Get details on numbers and make him show you a
better path to back up his/her words. That being said, it is a tough market right now for even more experienced investors. The key to being able to scale is going to be money. That will come from either cashflow, equity you can later tap, or outside income/assets. The worse deal you take, the longer it will take to buy property #2.
I was pretty frustrated when I started out because I was being told that the type of deal I wanted didn't exist in my market. But I would then jump online and find that others had bought at the prices I wanted. If you want a better deal you will have to do the things people do to get better deals.....network to buy off market; find seller finance opportunities; house hack; or air bnb, etc. etc. A 1/1 condo is always going to be one of the least desirable types of properties, and I wouldnt personally buy it unless I could buy it for 20%+ below what others are selling. Theres no shame in looking for a better deal. But I would start with creating your ideal deal (purchase price, down payment, monthly costs, estimated income, etc). That way when you start searching you will know when you see it or see something close.
