Start by deepening your understanding of CRE fundamentals, including net operating income (NOI), cap rates, and lease structures like triple net (NNN).

Use your expertise in multifamily lending to analyze deals and start small with a manageable first property.

@Geoff Engel I'm 42 with two tweens and got started on the FI journey about 10 years ago.

A lot of my friends started RE investing that way.

That will start to help form your strategy.  

I just jumped into the first investor group I was able to find.

They were referrals and the business started to grow simply because I had a competent team that was responsive and looked out for the owners' best interests.

Again, these are made-up examples but when I started, I was looking at one property in Chicago vs THREE in Indiana and the property taxes overall were about 1/4 the cost of Chicago and evictions of 3wks vs 6 months or more in Chicago.

I’m on deal #9 and have just started to have a network big enough to start getting information on off market deals.

Question• Has anyone formed an llc to start and fund their 1st real estate purchase using a SBA loan?