All Forum Posts by: James DuBois

Hello I am am looking to get into real estate as a path to financial freedom. I am currently 23, just graduated from college 8 months ago and have been working in the field of Software Development for the past 7 months. My lease in my apartment is up in May and I don’t want to renew the lease as it will be increasing. I currently pay $1100 per month for my apartment, with utilities when its all said and done with utilities I pay a minimum of at least $1300 a month.

The apartment is expensive and I am not getting anything out of it. I am looking to get into a property that I can make money off of. I make between 60k – 70k a year if you include bonuses. End goal would to be having real estate make more then what my salary is. I am trying to figure out what I should do as I need a place to live and I also want to make profit. I have been looking for multi family homes (2 unit max!) but the nice ones seem to be selling at too high or a price and or bought really quickly. And or the ones I find are in really bad shape or in a bad area. If a multi family home is the right move for me id like to find one relatively close to restaurants, pubs etc so its easy to rent out and or easy to resell down the line.  I am also open to single family homes as well.

I like the idea of buying a home and renovating it but where would I live while its being renovated. I don't believe I make enough money to pay 2 rents while one home is being renovated. Also I have been approved for an FHA loan , so if I went into a renovation would I just try to buy the house cheap and with what's left over from the loan I would use that money to renovate it.

I am pretty lost in this whole space but I know I definitely want to star investing into real estate. I just don’t know where to start and get going. I also don’t want to make a huge mistake that costs me money. If anyone could shine some light on my situation that would be great. Also if you are in the Cleveland Area I would love to grab a coffee with whomever is interested in sharing some information on how they have started their real estate empire.