Now I am looking to get actual properties in the portfolio.

I got paid off you got the house.. and in those days you usually got 5 to 8 grand back in cash out... now that was too aggressive and when landlords turned the keys back in in 08 to 2012 it was usually those with no TRUE skin in the game..

I do, however, own a 2 SFR buy-and-hold rental portfolio in Birmingham with plans to continue investing down there.

In general I agree that you shouldn't take a essentially risky investment and make it just for the tax benefits but some of these opportunities zones are in up-and-coming areas where you might want to invest anyway and if you're trying to decide between investing in an area that's up and coming in in an opportunity Zone and one that's up and coming and not in an opportunity Zone it would be crazy not to choose the one that's in the opportunity Zone particularly if you have some capital gains that you want to defer. the major benefit of opportunities on is that you can take capital gains from any investment class capital gains from a stock sale for example and use them to buy a business or real estate in an opportunity Zone provided you follow the rules and put it into an opportunity Zone fund and all that and then you can defer those games for up to 10 years but even more important part is if you do defer them for 10 years any games that you gained from the investment in the opportunity zone are 100% tax free.

Everyone can talk a big game but it comes down to execution. 

Technically it doesn't really change the game much.

You should try, maybe you get a commission... but the big brokers don't play this game.  

You spend your profits ONLY...and use(invest) your seed money to infinity...and beyond.hi Joe - i do not own any properties at this time, and flipping isn't for me (maybe for now, maybe i'll explore this in the future).what you said you wouldn't do is exactly what i would do; i need to start building a portfolio of rentals so i'd like to invest in one or two condos in the area at this time. my seed money would be my start up money. i'm not sure how to make a profit without it (spend money to make money concept here?)

I want to start investing and building a portfolio... where do I start and what is the best process to learn?

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