Hello everyone, I’ve always had an interest in rental property investing and would appreciate some guidance for how to begin in my current situation.
Currently, I am in my 20s, in between jobs, but I have a nice nest egg started with $100k+ invested in the stock market. I do not own a home. I do have my real estate license in both PA and FL but have not utilized them.
I was thinking about beginning an electrician apprenticeship for knowledge and income that could be beneficial to owning properties.
Gabriel, you are in a strong position with licenses in 2 states, liquidity and time on your side. Before deploying capital, focus on stable income and lending qualification. An electrician apprenticeship is smart. Trade skills reduce rehab costs and increase deal confidence. However, my suggestion is to get consistent W2 income, consider house hacking as your first move and use your license strategically to save on commission and control deals. Also, study one market deeply instead of splitting focus between PA and FL. Build income stability first, then deploy that $100K with intention.
1. You have a real estate license but have not utilized them?
Did you take the classes only? Or did you pass the state and national tests as well?
2. Its not really possibly to get the real estate license without using it. You technically only get the license when you go to work for a brokerage until then you may qualify for one but you can't actually have the license unless you are working for a brokerage.
3. Which state are you living in PA or FL?
4. Your next egg in the stock market. Is that in a 401k or IRA? Or is it just in a brokerage account?
If your money is in a retirement account, getting access to it could come with taxes and penalties. In addition, having a diverse array of investments is prudent long term. So, I would not encourage most people to liquidate their 401k/IRA to move it all into real estate.
5. Electrical is of course useful in working hands-on with real estate. If you are not set on electrical, I personally think plumbing and HVAC is much more useful when owning real estate.
In a heating climate like PA many heating systems are boilers and often plumbers will install/maintain them. So, in PA specifically I will have service calls for a plumber 5-10x as often as an electrician. Everything from a leaky faucet, toilet, frozen pipe, or a no-heat call.
Personally, I enjoy doing electrical much more myself but plumbing is definitely more often needed.
6. The obvious choice for a newbie is a house hack. If you are in PA, most towns with older housing have a lot of small multi-family properties. They make good starter homes for a house-hacker. Live in one unit and rent the other.
7. There is also potential with a house hack for you to potentially do some value-add work to the property.
8. With a house hack you can later decide if the experience is a stepping stone for you to move up the food chain and acquire more properties or eventually sell and just buy a single family to live in. So, its a relatively low-risk way of getting into real estate especially with the loans available for an owner-occupied property.
Hey Gabriel, my advice would be to start with buying your primary home and employ one of two strategies:
1: House hack. Self explanatory and straight forward. Renters pay your mortgage, you pay a fraction to none for your housing expense, you build equity along the way, and save money for your next investment.
2: Live in flip. Buy a home that needs work and spend the next two years renovating it to market standards. Sell it tax free gains up to 250K or 500k if you're married.
Gabriel, you are in a strong position with licenses in 2 states, liquidity and time on your side. Before deploying capital, focus on stable income and lending qualification. An electrician apprenticeship is smart. Trade skills reduce rehab costs and increase deal confidence. However, my suggestion is to get consistent W2 income, consider house hacking as your first move and use your license strategically to save on commission and control deals. Also, study one market deeply instead of splitting focus between PA and FL. Build income stability first, then deploy that $100K with intention.
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