Hi guys, i am pretty new to BP and VERY new to REI. I've never done a deal, but I'm very eager to get started. I feel that a rental property might me the best bet to start out with (if anyone disagrees, please feel free to tell me why!) but I am having trouble finding out what the best method for finding a great deal is. So far, I've just been looking online and nothing in my area seems to be catching my eye. Any suggestions?

Also, how much are you willing to put into rehabbing a buy & hold? 

Hey Lorenzo, welcome to BP. Online is a great place to start, also calling a local realtor may be helpful. However, if you can't find anything online, it may be that the area in which you're looking doesn't have anything that is meeting your criteria. In that case, go to another market. You can't try to force a round peg into a square hole...you need to go to the land of round holes. 

That’s great advice, thank you Michael !  Do you think starting out your first deal “out of your market” is a little risky though ?

Originally posted by @Michael Albaum :

Hey Lorenzo, welcome to BP. Online is a great place to start, also calling a local realtor may be helpful. However, if you can't find anything online, it may be that the area in which you're looking doesn't have anything that is meeting your criteria. In that case, go to another market. You can't try to force a round peg into a square hole...you need to go to the land of round holes. 

@Lorenzo Diaz I don’t think so...why would going out of your backyard market be any more dangerous than investing in your backyard? You still have to know the market, you still have to setup a team, you still have to do you dd...distance investing just forces you to get really good at doing all those things efficiently. My first deal was at distance and I know it made me a better distance investor.