Advice for a military member starting out?
Hi, I just found this site and I think it is awesome. I posted on reiclub.com but I havent gotten much response so I was wondering if anyone on here could help me out.
A little about me, I am a 25 year old 1st Lt in the United States Marine Corps, currently in Corpus Christi TX for flight school. I have enjoyed investing/anything entrepreneurial since I was a kid. A few months ago the scales fell off of my eyes and I realized a logical step would be to get into real estate. I found a good REIA club....and moved the next week. Now I'm here in Corpus which doesnt have a club and I have been either swamped by flight school or lazy in my off time.
Recently I kicked myself back into gear, got preapproved for an fha and talked a little to a realtor I know but now I am kind of hitting a wall. I will probably only be in Corpus for another 3 or 4 months and my next station for a year maybe, after that, things should slow down a but but I want to start acquiring rentals now. However reading more it sounds like a good plan for newbies is to work birddogging / wholesaling to learn the ropes. Again me being an active duty Marine and in an intense school, my free time is limited. Is birddogging / wholesaling something I can pursue part time?
Also, up until a few days ago I was pretty much set on going for the nice area of town $180 -200,000 homes to ensure better renters, most likely transient military like me vs the cheaper homes near the local university which I figured would get torn up more as I will be moving and need to have a management company look after them. But I really hate the idea of having a huge mortgage like that. Has got me thinking about cheaper options?
I guess through this long convaluted post, besides what I wrote there,
1. What ways do you get financing besides normal/fha mortgages. I have read about seller financing etc, viable options?
2. With my time contstraints what is the best way to get into this game we call real estate.
3. What do you think about going for the nicer but more expensive neighborhoods vs cheaper but more maintenance options?
Thanks to all.
p.s. I hate making newbie posts because I know somewhere yall have already answered these questions but I appreciate your time for doing it again.