Hello! My name is Thomas and am new to BP and REI! For some background about myself, I'm originally from Hawaii, currently living in the SF Bay Area but also moving down to the San Diego area in 2020. All in all, I've always been tied to very expensive real estate markets. That said, I understand that there can be deals made anywhere! I'm very new to real estate investing, and this community, but was wondering if anyone could provide some direction/mentorship for my next steps. Here is what I have so far:
- Listened to 10-20 BP podcasts
- Attended 1 webinar
- Read countless forum/blog posts
- Started doing preliminary research for markets (economical, population, other trends)
- Researched "my niche", which currently seems to be between either flipping, BRRR, or typical buy/hold (see below for my advantages)
I have a few advantages that I should leverage. I have deep local knowledge of these 3 markets, I have family connections to a licensed contractor in Hawaii and San Diego, and I am a professional at digital marketing and advertising, specifically on Facebook. Although my experience has been largely on marketing for mobile games for companies located within the famous "Silicon Valley" area, the skills translate very well to advertising for other industries. I'm also blessed to have learned the concept of financial independence, true investing (purchasing assets instead of liabilities), and great savings habits at an early age.
Not sure where I should really start. Fortunately, I am financially savvy and have been building a decent nest egg over the past few years (granted, not enough to compete with the crazy all-cash deals in my area). Here are some thoughts I have, currently:
1. People tend to discourage buying your first property out-of-state, but not sure if I have many other options if I would like to do a buy-and-hold without investing too much into rehab.
2. Any recommendations for building a trustworthy team? My biggest fear, and I'm sure this is a common one, is that I'll accidentally hire the wrong people and end up losing money on a potential non-local property.
3. During my research, I stumbled across the Fannie Mae Renovation Loan. If my understanding is correct, I should be able to execute on a BRRR strategy with this loan, and then profit off of the resulting ReFI. If this is true, will I run into any issues trying to compete in these ultra-competitive markets? Additionally, would I be able to successfully use this loan at foreclosures and auctions?
All the best,
Thomas
