Advice For Where To Start Given My Situation

[Blake Doersch]

Hi everyone,

I have been wanting to get into real estate for years now and I have finally started my life after college but I am running into a big problem and am looking for advice for others that have had experience or have any advice.

I wanted to start investing in real estate yesterday but I have a lot of uncertainty around living in the same spot for more than a year. I moved to southeast CT back in July 2024 and I will be moving in a few months most likely, moving to the DC area where (unsure where in DC area still) I will probably live for another year and then move to be with my significant other who is going to med school but we don’t even know where she is going yet so it’s not like I can do research on the area ahead of time such that I can be ready to buy when I move.

I deeply want to start house hacking with a triplex or a quadplex but if I were to do that I would want to get an owner occupancy based loan and I wouldn't be able to live there for a full year and on top of that, I would have to probably budget for a property manager since I am leaving the area, which is not the end of the world but makes it pretty hard. I have also thought about wholesaling, using the BRRRR method (although I was thinking of combining this with the house hack), investing in another state through a property manager, and I just feel like I am running in place, ready to invest but not able to find something that actually aligns with what my path is right now.

Has anyone ever been through a similar thing and found a way to invest successfully and get a start towards financial freedom? Also to add on to the above, the reason that I haven’t looked further into the investing in another state idea through a property manager is the cost, I have been working at my engineering job for a full year now and have built up some cash from it by trying to budget as best as I can but I don’t think it's enough to buy a property without living in it to cover the downpayment and have a cushion / buffer amount of cash for expenses. (I am sitting on around $20k between stocks and money market funds with another $10k able to be pulled out via a 401k loan if necessary). Furthermore, I have thought about trying to do the wholesale option but again, I don’t know if it's worth the effort to try to build up a reputation just to leave the area later on especially right now given I know I only have a limited time here. Does it make sense to build up all the local connections and resources just to leave them shortly after?

Sorry for the massive rant but this has been driving me a bit crazy haha but any piece of advice would be great. I am open to any and all forms of contact as well past the BP forums, whether that be grabbing a cup of coffee with someone local in the area to talk further or hopping on a call with someone less local. Thanks so much in advance everyone!

[Nicholas L.]

@Blake Doersch

just a few reactions -

-dabbling in wholesaling isn't going to do anything for you.  the competition is tremendous - you're up against people spending thousands or tens of thousands a month on marketing. so if you have a full time job you're probably not going to be able to wholesale on the side in any meaningful way.  it generally doesn't work like that.

-similarly, buying a random property out of state somewhere probably isn't going to do much for you either.  there are so many forum threads on BP by folks who bought a random property in a so-called "lower cost" or "cash flow" market, and got immediately, totally crushed by deferred maintenance, rough turnovers, and other unexpected costs and just started losing money.  this takes you backwards, not forwards.  example here.

Sell at a loss or rent at a loss

-there aren't very many small multis in the DC area.  doesn't mean you can't find something to house hack but just something to keep in mind.  maybe you have enough time to house hack something, maybe you don't.  

-patience is key here.  the median age of first home buying is now in late thirties.  so if you and your SO keep saving up and being patient, and then house hack once you move to a place you're going to be longer, that IS your start toward financial freedom.  the goal is not to buy properties, the goal is to get wealthy.

hope this helps