By the end of September, I will have 25k saved up to use on a property (outside of my personal emergency fund of course).

I understand the temptation to handle 100% of the project management yourself to save the cost.

I live in NYC and I’ve yet to check the market.This year I plan on doing as much research as possible as me and my brothers save our money for our first deal, there’s 3 of us total.If you read this far thanks so much!

"Negative" advice is sometimes words of caution that can save you.

Any ideas?

Before I sign on the dotted line, I would like to get ideas on the best use of the available seed money I have.

The efforts that projects of this nature take are massive but the results are more than worth it.https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2023/11/27/columbus-home-for-human-trafficking-survivors-harriets-hope-to-open/71625032007/One-of-a-kind home for human trafficking survivors to open next month in ColumbusDanae KingColumbus DispatchOn Friday, survivors of human trafficking will walk into their brand new home: a place where each fixture and detail was chosen especially for them by fellow survivors.The home is Harriet’s Hope — named for abolitionist Harriet Tubman — a 52-unit housing community that can host multiple families and was designed specifically for human trafficking survivors.The one-of-a-kind community comes out of a public-private partnership that brought together Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost; Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA); CVS Health and OhioRISE, the CVS/Aetna-owned Medicaid program; Beacon 360 Management and many others.The Dec. 1 opening of Harriet's Hope, a community on Columbus' West Side whose exact location isn't being shared to protect survivor's safety, was announced at the Ohio Statehouse this morning.A call to actionThe project started a few years ago as a vision of Celia Kendall, the CEO of Beacon 360 Management, a nonprofit real estate developer and management firm based in Columbus with 28 communities across Ohio.Kendall got the idea for Harriet's Hope after being unsettled by what she saw doing street outreach with women being trafficked six years ago."

If I buy house for investment i run the numbers and everything look good but and its a big but... the house on flood zone from 1-10 he at 9 now let me make it clear its not a lake or something close to it city close to downtown chiago not lake around it very metropolitan area.. but flood zone 9 so i know its can be a big factor when i want to riff after i finish my renove there and want to take my money back 75% i know also the insurance van be factor with the price i can pay every month.. so if some have idea or experience with this subject the house located  oak park Illinois.. 

.), but NYC is a tough market to operate especially when tenants become trouble.. would say standard eviction timeline is currently around 18 months, it's a nightmare when it happens that's why we are very well set up and we make sure to have a good relationship with tenants, (we can talk about NYC a different time,) bottom line it is a market with practically no vacancies, and crazy good rents, but very challenging to operate.All being said, I am looking to evolve into different markets, problem is I have no idea how evaluate a market and what I need to consider and how to even do market research on anything outside of NYC.. so, I would appreciate for some input on how to find deals, understand and underwrite different markets. 

Save and pay down mortgage to 20% equity ($292,000).