Hey there, I'm new here! Coastal NC Investor

[Mitchell McGuinnis]

Hey Everybody!

I wanted to introduce myself and see if I can solicit some advice and/or suggestions from the community. My name is Mitch, I spent the last 15 years in law enforcement in Colorado. The family and I recently moved from Colorado to coastal North Carolina so that we could live on the coast. I had a personal "holy crap" moment a few months ago where I turned around and realized how much time I had lost with my family over the last decade and a half due to my career in law enforcement. I decided that I would not be missing any more holidays, birthdays, sporting events, or school functions for a job.

My wonderful wife, Ali, is a successful Realtor in Northern Colorado. She has about ten years worth of experience and has made some amazing network connections in that area. She was able to introduce me to some investors and I realized the potential that real estate provides for my personal and professional goals here in our new home.

Now, on to the advice and/or suggestions from the community:

I have dived head first into the education aspect of investing and feel like I'm drinking from the fire hose! We have about $300k of capital saved that I am putting towards my investing business. My initial goal is cash flow with the least amount of capital investment possible. I want to avoid the pitfall of tying too much capital up in properties just because I have it. I need to replace the income from my job with cash flow from real estate. I read Avery Carl's book about STR investments and think that STR's are probably the way to go in order to replace the cash flow. I also want to explore mid and long term rentals since I have plenty of time to manage the properties myself. We also happen to have landed in a market with a large military presence which lends itself to mid and long term rentals. That being said, I understand that I am just beginning this journey and would love any advice you are willing to offer! What are some other investment vehicles that I should consider to help me meet my cash-flow replacement goal?

[Drea Na]

Hi Mitchell, and welcome to the community!

Seems like you have a very stable beginning into your new journey. The first thing I would say is to make sure you have a handle on your numbers from the beginning (be it spreadsheets/quickbooks/appfolio etc..), nothing is worse than having properties but unsure of which ones are performing and which ones you need to cut loose.

The second thing I would say is start slow, managing a property with tenants and repairs (or upgrades for STR's) can be a bit overwhelming if you've never done it. Also realize that cash flow is not always possible in all markets - replacing a w-2 income from the start is challenging, so you may need to adjust your expectations a bit.

As for STR's, do your research on permits and ordinances for the area you're looking to invest - communities can be a bear! David Greene puts out some great content on youtube - highly recommend.

Hope this helps!