New Investor with $10,000. How should I spend my money?

Question

The title says it all!  If you were starting out today with $10,000 and no more what would you do to get started?

Ideally, I would like to start with some rehabs to ramp up my capital.  Suggestions?

It is also important for me to note that I hold a real estate salesperson license.

As always, Thank you BP for your valuable input!

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

You never stop educating yourself.  I've been educating myself for REI for over 50 years.  The day I stop....I lose.

Alex Chin · Answer

I would agree with @Travis Frenchak here. I would say that your best bet would be to begin attending local Real Estate meet-ups, networking, and finding a partner who can shoulder some of the load for this first deal.

As stated by @Brandon Turner more than a few times, it's better to have 50% of a great deal than 100% of nothing.

Travis Frenchak · Answer

Not to be rude but if you don't know what you can do with $10k then you probably haven't educated yourself enough.

That said, a partnership may be in your future. I would also say finding a partner/investor depends a lot on what kind of experience you have. Obviously not real estate investing experience but maybe a business or construction background? Possibly owner financing. Have to be creative!

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

Education.  The first things I would focus on learning would be:

sandwich lease option

land contracts

wholesaling

Shamus Quirk · Answer

@Joe Villeneuve I do not intend to ever stop educating myself, I think I have just got to a point where I have a good basic comprehensive knowledge in a few niches areas of real estate investing and I want to take some action now so I can learn more as I go.  I don't want to be another case of analysis paralysis.  Believe me I don't think I know it all or even close to it, but I think I know enough to get started and probably know more than most folks by the time they got started.  Bigger Pockets have been an incredible resource for self education.

@Travis Frenchak I have plenty of ideas about what I could do with my REI fund, but I find it is always wise to get the opinions of others that have been there before you.  I just wanted to reach out to the community and pick some brains.  There are several points of view here which I love and that is why I asked the question.

I think I am leaning towards some kind of house hack, or a JV if I can find someone that would be interested in working together.  I have people I could approach for funding but I would feel more comfortable doing that with a proven track record.

Maybe I will reconsider wholesaling, but I'm not sure if that is ethical as I hold a real estate license.  I don't think my broker would be happy with me wholesaling properties when I could just list them so he can get his cut too.  I had a forum post about this topic a few weeks ago and got tons of mixed advice on the topic.  I chose to stay away from it for now.

Meghan Reed · Answer

I would be pretty hesitant to do a flip with that little money.  The down payment on any property would use up a good portion or all of that amount leaving you with very little to work with.  Unexpected costs come up all the time on flips and if you don't have a reserve you will be stuck with a partially rehabbed property that you can't afford to push forward on.  Definitely consider a partnership where the partner would have 2 or 3 times your funds minimum or alternate forms of investments.  I'm looking into tax liens to build up my capital.

Colin Smith · Answer

I always recommend house hacking if you don't own your own home. I think that is a powerful to invest with some significant benefits. And if you can manage a live in flip into your house hack then you can really get off to a good start!

Ryan Dossey · Answer

I personally don't think it's a good idea to try a flip with that little cash. Even if you get a HML that will lend 100% the interest payments and unexpected things are going to rip through that fund FAST.

I would spend your money on marketing. If you don't want to wholesale then try to JV some deals for a lower %. I honestly don't think wholesaling a deal or two would be a bad idea for you. You could double or triple your current REI fund very quickly.

Look into Direct Mail. Yellow Letters. If you have people skills and can negotiate that's your best bet.

Robert Norvell · Answer

Id look into using it as a down payment on a really sweet deal. If it needs a ton of work, then you can live in it while you fix it. Just dont bite off more than you can chew for your first house. Getting a solid buy and hold and making great cashflow isnt necessarily a bad way to start either. If you find a really nice deal, you might be able to do a cash out refi in a few years and have more $$ to work with as you look for that first flip.

New Investor with $10,000. How should I spend my money?

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