All Forum Posts by: Taylor Hudgins

Hi Brandon,  

I'm not from that area, but I highly suggest attending some meetups in the area if you have time.  It's always a great way for you to meet other people in the area doing exactly what you're doing and you get to learn from everyone else as well!  If you go to BiggerPockets.com > Network (in the top ribbon) > Events, you'll be able to find other people by zip code.

Best of luck in your investing journey!

Taylor

@Vincent Pirrone Of course!!!  You're going to be awesome!

Hi Arron!! Congrats on starting your real estate journey!  First thing I would begin to do is to start reaching out to a few lenders in your area to begin the pre-approval process.  Once a lender is able to pre-approve you to purchase a property, you can begin to partner with an agent or even a wholesaler to begin looking at deals in the area.

If you aren't there yet, also feel free to start practicing how to run numbers!  That way you'll be prepped and ready to go once the pre-approval has come through.

Episode 142 on BiggerPockets is also great for newbies for all the ways you can begin to start the process!  Here is a link as well: 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/2015-10-01-bp-podcast-142-22-and-a-half-actionable-tips-beginner-real-estate-investors-with-josh-brandon

Wishing you all the best Arron! 

Hi Vincent,  Thank you so much for sharing your story!  Real Estate (especially starting out) can be a whirlwind, but making sure you're making progress in the right direction is always key.  Real Estate Investing is truly about finding freedom in all capacities of life.  

We're all in this real estate journey together and we ALL have properties that don't totally perform as expected.  We all fall on our faces.  We all fail at some point in one way or another.  BUT it is just part of the beauty in the journey because with each perceived "failure", we really learn how to get better and better with each transaction.

And a $200 mortgage is stilll INCREDIBLY GOOD.  That's better than 99% of the rest of us with our mortgage payments! lol  

Best of luck in your journey Vincent!! It only gets better from here. :) 

Hi Manuary,

I'm not in Chicago at the moment, but try going to BiggerPockets.com > Network (in the top ribbon) > Real Estate Agents.  You'll be able to get into contact with quite a few agents in whatever zip code you're looking for.  You can also see who is most active on BiggerPockets which may signify how involved they are with other investors on the platform.

Best wishes to you!

Hi Jeromie,

We currently only have one property, but we use cozy.co.  It's free and it can handle all of our tenant screening, maintenance requests, and tenants can pay online through their portal as well.  The only piece that I don't like too much is that it can't be customized (maybe in another premium version?).  

BUT!  It does cover all the basic functions we need.  Depending on what you're wanting the software to do, it may be a great starting place.

Hi Michael,

This sounds great!  I'd love to come to the next one if possible!  It's always great to meet other folks in the area chasing after the same goals.

@Sienna Parker  Thank you!  Feel free to reach out any time! 

Hi Elliott!! I'm not from New York, but if you go to BiggerPockets.com > Network (in the ribbon at the top of the page) > Mortgage Lenders, you should be able to filter by what you're looking for.  Wishing you all the best!!

Hi Sienna!  Practicing analyzing deals is the absolute BEST way to start dipping your toes in the real estate waters.  For our first deal, we knew our number one goal was a cash flowing rental and, of course, something we could afford as first time investors.  

We purchased a home for $59k with about 698 square feet needing some cosmetic updates.  It's definitely on the smaller side, but it worked out perfectly for us!  We were glad that we went with a smaller home knowing that if something catastrophic happened (*knock on wood*), we wouldn't be pushed into foreclosure.  Our mortgage is currently $395 and we rent it out for $875! 

Best of luck to you and your new investing journey!!