Help??

Question

Hi I am a 24 yr old living in Tacoma, Wa. I work for a hospital supply co now making aprx 4200 per month and I have been very interested in the real estate market for awhile now. I know what you might be thinking now, " this dudes 24 are you kidding?" Well that is true and No I'm not kidding you. In April I got out of the U.S. Army after 6 yrs in the infantry 2 deployments in 2 different wars, married and divorced and I've had a few tragedies along the way. Now I am very very interested in making lot of money and honestly don't mind who or what I have to crush to get it (lol). But the problem is I know absolutely nothing about real estate  but I want to!  If anyone can tell me anything on how to get into real estate and be successful being where I am now financially then please tell me. Also my credit is not the greatest due to my wonderful divorce   Any help will be greatly appreciated. 
Thank you, 
Casey

Brandon Turner · Answer

Ah Ivan Roberts - that's exactly why :)

Ivan Roberts · Answer

Thanks @Brandon Turner, but I work mostly from my smart phone, and I believe that the reason why the "@" hyperlinks do not work, is because of that.

Stephanie Dupuis · Answer

Welcome, Casey! Great to see you here. I'm up in Bremerton - pretty close to you.

Michele brings up some good points about education. I'd also recommend taking some time to educate yourself through reading some standard REI books (Rich Dad Poor Dad, Ken McElroy's books are a fave of mine, post here and get recommendations for books on topics you're interested in - I do not know what you already know, I also like VanDerRoost's books and have quite a library - read often), repair credit, etc. Go see a mortgage lender and see what they recommend you do. Some guys say you don't need to use traditional lending, but it's a heck of a lot easier to invest if you can (and if you get a better rate).

Tacoma is exciting. What a great town to be in for investing.

Elizabeth Colegrove · Answer

FYI for VA loans. There is an cap amount for each area. Most areas it is low 400's, San Diego is $500k and Los Angelos and a few others is 999k. Per new rules you are allowed to reuse the VA until you use up all your amount in each city.

Ex.

House one is 100k funding fee 2.9% 102.9k Left on the VA 297.1k 
Housing two - 200k 3.3%  206.6k     Left on the VA $90.6k                    
Housing Three- $80 3.3     82.3        Left on the VA $8.28

That's how you can buy multiple houses using the same VA loan with no money down.

Brandon Turner · Answer

Hey Ivan Roberts - here ya go: ;)

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/1/blog_posts/20337-at-mentions-come-to-biggerpockets

Michele Fischer · Answer

Welcome Casey! I'm Michele,  also in Washington. Lived in Federal Way for a spell. I'd suggest taking a year to study and learn,  repair your credit, and save up some cash. Not because you are young, but because it is time well spent.

Ivan Roberts · Answer

Hey Charles,

@Charles Kuchlenz (I don't know if my hyperlinks ever work) My wife got orders to Volk Field around Camp Douglas. We are thinking of renting an apartment there to save more money until we dive into the RE market in either Milwalkee-Green Bay or other surrounding areas. Pretty much most of the "surrounding areas" do not look appeasing to either the wife or I, but the investment market in all of those cities (Minus Milkwalkuee) seem bleak. Heck, their are only a couple of property managers listed in Green Bay! I'm not sure of that's a good thing or a bad thing yet.

As far as looking into becoming friends with local RE investors such as myself, I haven't gotten to that step yet. But from a previous topic that I posted on BP, it would be advantageous for me to find one.

Where are you investing? I located an REIA group in the Green Bay Area (I'm not sure if I can list websites on BP? But I was thinking about joining it. Do you have a membership to an REIA group where you live or elsewhere?

Charles Kuchlenz · Answer

Ivan Roberts, where are you moving to in WI?  I am in Eau Claire and have been looking to network with some other investors in the area.

Ivan Roberts · Answer

Hey guys,

I also live in Tacoma, but I got into RE investing accidentally. I am also military (Air Force) and so is my wife. We have a house in Goodyear AZ, where we thought we would live until we retired, unfortunately, my wife got orders to Washington (JBLM) and we are now renting out the house in AZ (No cashflow, but great tenants paying the mortgage).

We now live in Tacoma (Browns Point area) and we bought a house here as well using VA (both properties were financed via VA) and guess what, we are moving again! We found renters who move in on July 1st and that is when the wife and I decided to invest in RE! We are moving to Wisconsin next year, and we are moving to an apartment to save money in the mean time. We should have around 80k by the time we leave when we start looking to invest in WI.

Hey @Brandon Turner, I never knew you lived in Aberdeen! I wanted to go to an REIA meeting to get a better understanding on how I can maximized portfolio for when I do invest in RE up in WI. Maybe someday we can meet before I leave here!

Zach Schwarzmiller · Answer

Casey,

One thing worth considering could be taking advantage of your VA loan to purchase a four-plex to owner occupy one unit and rent out the other three. After 1 year you could sell and 1031 into another building (tax deferred exchange) or whatever, but this would give you sometime to learn about other methods of RE investment and provide a wonderful opportunity to use your VA loan.