Preparing to Invest in Real Estate

[Lake Bradford]

Hi, I am 21 and a year away from graduating college and I plan on investing in real estate as soon as I graduate. I have been reading a lot of the articles on BiggerPockets about how real estate investing works, but I would also like to hear from the community as well. I already have a job lined up that pays around $140k annually and I would have around $20,000 to $30,000 saved up by the time I start working. I could also work from San Francisco, Dallas, Georgia, Boston, or Seattle. Which strategy should I focus on and which city do y'all think would allow for the most profitable investment? 

Thank y'all!

[Lien Vuong]

Congrats on your job offer and savings, thats a major win already right there! 

For selecting the city to live in, I would suggest you do a COL analysis on the cities. Already I think SF is going to the highest with a close second/third of Seattle and Boston and then Dallas and I am assuming Atlanta for Georgia. What you want to focus on is rental rate, taxes (income & property), as well as purchasing power in those communities. 

Whatever city you select does not have to pigeon hold you to the state you're going to make your first investment in but it would be fairly likely as it is going to be a househack of sorts. You can always do OOS investing with the $ you have saved. 

Hope this helps!