Best Strategy For 18 year old

[Dax Bradley]

i am stuck on which strategy is best for me in acquiring my first investment property. i am 18 years old, in my first year of my electrical apprenticeship. being a first year i am not making enough money to save cash and pay my car payment/insurance every month, and other needs: gas, food, etc. i want to get my first property this year and i thought that house hacking would be the right move for me. i found a duplex that rents $1,250 and already has two tenants inside of it but to be able to afford a down payment realistically i would have to use my FHA and jump in the other side. after talking to some people around me i would be having to pay quite a bit out of pocket every month for the mortgage and i just don't make enough money right now to do that. i want to be great more than anything in this world. this is all i think about all day every day and it drives me crazy. i have to acquire a property this year to satisfy myself. i just don't have the right people around me to help me make the right decisions in the real estate market, so i am trying to figure out all of this on my own and it is getting overwhelming. with my situation what would be the best strategy to aquire a property this year. i am not submitting to saving money for years, i have to do this. i made a promise to myself.

[Ezekiel Trevino]

Well you came to the right place. There are tons people who have been in your shoes. Start wholesaling. On your free time, look for deals. Either on Zillow or Realtor.com. Make friends with investors here and in the area you live in join some real estate investing groups in Arkansas. You can find these groups on Facebook. Once you find a deal, present it to investors and charge them a wholesaling fee. Once you make a few wholesaling deals, you can use that money to buy multi-family properties. 

Also look into down payment assistance programs. A quick google search says that The Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) has main two programs they use. Down Payment Assistance (DPA) Program and the Arkansas Dream Down Payment Initiative (ADDI). Although you should talk to a mortgage broker about it and see what they say. 

There are other investors here that will give you their 2 cents on what to do, this is just my opinion. 

Hang in there bud, you'll be alright. You just have to be patient.