She has recommended us considering in-state investing, but we are nervous investing in CA given how renter-friendly it is.Our philosophies for starting now are 1) we want to achieve financial freedom/escape the 9-5p in our 40s by building a strong passive income real estate portfolio, 2) we want to start gaining experience now/we've only heard anyone's regret ever being that they wish they started sooner, and 3) we sense that if the math works, the math works (and not with rosy numbers, but with very realistic numbers with plenty of risk baked in like vacancy, maintenance cost emergency fund, etc)Thanks, really looking forward to some constructive feedback/conversation!

It had all the things that I look into an investment property - great location, large units with an option to create an additional bedroom, plenty of room to increase rents, it was deleaded, very high rental demand area.

If something happened the policy would pay for clean up and I would collect the rest and then buy another house with it, which there are plenty of in the area, rather than rebuild.

Hi Tavis,Live with a roommate in a room vs an apartment = cheaper (or sleep for free at a relatives home).Drive an older car or walk = cheaper.Cook your own meals = cheaper.Have a limited reasonably priced wardrobe = cheaper.Don't drink and don't smoke = cheaper.Have your pay auto-deposited, and then manually move the amounts you need to spend ie. rent and food into another account that has a debit card.

Wishing you the best and plenty of success in your real estate journey! 

I would rather invest in a fund or if I was buying fractionalized make sure I am in the first position on that fraction and make sure plenty of equity. 5% servicing fee can be pretty stiff as mentioned above others charge much less, just make sure you are using a licensed loan servicer.My only other comment on servicing is understand ALL the costs, some have very low monthly costs but nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING or have extremely high boarding fees.

I am completely at a loss on where to start...i have done plenty of research, I analyzed 100+ deals.

You’ll find plenty of friendly, knowledgeable people willing to respond to your posts.I really like the alerts feature that can quickly guide you to current topics that may be of interest: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alertsThere are a few self-contained guides that you can access here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides

You’ll find plenty of friendly, knowledgeable people willing to respond to your posts.The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

Wishing you the best and plenty of success on your real estate journey!