What to do with $250K cash?

[Tommi Edwards]

Hi BP, My boyfriend and I live in a Brooklyn townhouse he inherited. There isn't a mortgage on the property and the market value is set at $858K. We want to get started with investing in real estate and plan on pulling out some of the equity - about $250K. The plan is to use some of that money for renovations and to buy other properties. I'm a real estate agent and I have access to a database that shows me lis pendens properties. I'm mailing out my first batch of handwritten letters today (following the direct mail strategy) in hopes that I'll either be able to sell the property as an agent, or buy the property as an investor, given the numbers check out. I'm curious to know what others would do in this situation and if this seems like a good idea. Any opinions and feedback is welcomed!

[Joe Villeneuve]

Originally posted by @Alex Shaughnessy:

There are a number of different strategies to take but that would be based on your goals and resources. Are you flipping? buy and hold? Lay out a concrete plan and dig into this sites forums articles podcasts etc. There is literally no question that ive ever had that has gone unanswered. Good luck.

This is close. You start with your "goals" and reverse engineer your plan from there. Trouble is, most REI don't understand that, "I want to flip <# properties>, and buy <# hold properties> next year, this year or any year...isn't a plan.

A plan is based on your financial goals, which come from your total monthly bills and total personal debt.  The "goals" are to get enough "profits" to pay off your total personal debt, and to get enough Cash flow to cover what's left of your monthly bills.

Any and all decisions you make, should be made with this in mind...and a few other very important things.