Any advice for a newbie?

Question

Hey all,

My name's Dillon.

I'm 21 years old. I have a good sales job along with a few side jobs while I build up accounts and my sales job. I am extremely interested in getting into real estate investing and would love to connect with anyone in the Minneapolis, MN area. I have about 25k saved up for a down payment on my first home. I am looking to put 20% down on a town home to live in. Any advice would be appreciated!

Account Closed · Answer

Welcome to BP, Dillion! Have you considered getting a duplex, triplex, or fourplex? You can get the same type of financing for those as you can for a single family home. You can live in one of the units and then rent out the rest. Depending on how much your mortgage and expenses are, there's a good chance that you could get some immediately cashflow each month.

In terms of learning, I second listening to the BP podcast. I also like the BP Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing. It's a fairly quick read that's packed with great information for beginners. Good luck on your real estate investing adventure!

Paul Timmins · Answer

@Dillon Blesi

Welcome.

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and rehabbers (cash buyers). You can Google to locate them and go to meetup.com

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,  The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs  http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good Luck

Paul

Hugh Ayles · Answer

Dillon, just to reinforce what a couple others have already said, look into a duplex, triplex, etc instead of the townhome.

It will give you instant experience in real estate investing and the rental units hopefully offset or reduce your out of pocket mortgage expense.

Mark Nolan · Answer

@Dillon Blesi

BP is a treasure chest full of resources. You will find resources here from blogs to pod casts and forums. You can also send messages to members which is my favorite part of the website.

Jay Lohn · Answer

@Dillon Blesi

Welcome to BP, I am local to your area and would be happy to answer any of your questions.

Regards,

Jay

Sawyer Lubke · Answer

@Dillon Blesi Welcome to Bigger Pockets!

I would also recommend buying a 2-4 unit building instead of a town home. I bought a town house in 2012 shortly after graduating college. After doing real estate part time for 1.5 years I decided I wanted to go full time. I couldn't do this will my monthly expenses with a town home so I decided to sell the town house and buy a tri-plex in Minneapolis. I've been in real estate full time since January of 2014. Owning a multi-unit rental building forces you to learn about leases, business taxes, dealing with tenants and so much more. Best of luck finding your first property!

Cheers, Sawyer

Ricardo Charles · Answer

@Dillion Blesi

The best thing you can do is network and meet with people.  Take your time and work on finding the best deal where the numbers make sense to you.  Real Estate is an interesting yet competitive marketplace so opportunities present themselves in all shapes and sizes.  Take advantage of Biggerpockets.com podcast and the abundance of information that is available on this site.  This is a great resource to learn how to create income through real estate.  Jump in and start learning and networking.

Best Regards,

Ricardo Charles

Marlon Wilson · Answer

Hi!

@Dillon Blesi

Welcome to Bp community. You got the right place for you to earn great learning and experience! wishing you good luck on your real estate venture!

Colin Smith · Answer

Start with the podcasts here on BP. You will learn a lot!!!