Young Aspiring Investor - Ready to Take the First Step but...

[Christian Sabatini]

Hello, I'm a 20 year-old aspiring investor. I've taken courses, listened to the podcast for a year, done a lot of research, etc. and I feel that I'm ready to take the first step in real estate investing. With that, naturally I'm having my doubts - I don't want to throw my money into a home for the sake of doing it.

I'm looking to house-hack since I'm in college and I can mitigate the risk of vacancy as well as get tenants I already know in the house - avoiding the bad tenant experience. My biggest concerns are (1) running numbers (i.e. what am I looking at, what are good numbers, what's important criteria, etc.) and (2) I've understood and appreciated the concept of "creating - not finding - a deal", and I'm seeking some pointers as to what are some of your personal favorite value-add techniques.

Thank you so much!

[Nathan Gesner]

Welcome to BP and congratulations on your first post!

I don't see a specific question, so I don't have a specific answer. Running the numbers is not that difficult, but you have to practice it. Reading a book or listening to podcasts isn't enough. Visit the BP YouTube page and they have a channel dedicated to property evaluation. It walks you through the process step-by-step. Do at least 10-12 of those exercises. Pause the video and try to think what the next step will be before they say it. When you get that down, then you can evaluate on your own. And once you know how to evaluate, you should know what a property needs to produce to be a good investment for you.

Have you joined a local investor meetup to network with others? Spend time rubbing elbows with like-minded investors and they can help you find a deal. They may look at a 5bed/3bath house and it won't cashflow for them, but it will cashflow for you since you're renting out each bedroom. Build a network and you'll have more than just your eyes looking for deals.