Hi I'm Chris, new to real estate investing and excited to meet u
Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd reach out and introduce myself to the community. I'm a software engineer at PayPal. I just finished reading Long Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene and it spoke a lot about Bigger Pockets. I'm now reading The Book on Rental Property Investing. I got into this through my friend Thien and wanted to start building some cash flow by investing out of state. However it doesn't make a lot of sense as I am still bleeding from paying rent every month here in San Jose (60,000 in rent last 2 years). So I'm looking at possibly getting into a multi family or a home with many bedrooms to lower that expense and start building towards an asset.
I am currently working with my friend Ames Sabello and her business partner Brian Kelly, I also have a great lender Kevin Edwards. I'm excited to be here and really excited to be starting this journey with all of you :)
Best,
Chris
@Christopher Chen Hello! I’m a software engineer also. Welcome! Good to hear you are wanting to get into real estate investing. There is a lot of good info here.
@Christopher Chen Welcome to BP! I grew up in San Jose and am now in the East Bay. Feel free to reach out with any questions!
@Blake Edwards thank you!
@Billy Linn sweet how has your investing been going? :)
@Christopher Chen. Welcome to BiggerPockets. You will learn and grow a lot and excited to have you here and for you to be part of the community.
@Christopher Chen pretty good! Have 20+ rentals and a laundromat. If you keep your living expenses low your engineering salary will allow you to invest quite a lot. Buying and living in a duplex/four Plex with your tenants isn’t for everyone but thats what I would do if I had to start over.
What stack/language do you work with?
@Billy Linn Yea that's definitely my plan! Wow that's awesome sounds like you're well on your way to financial independence. I just put in an offer for a SFH that I will occupy and rent the rest of the rooms to keep my living expenses low. Once that's settled I will move into getting some multifamily units out of state!
I started off my career as a full stack javascript engineer, node js on the backend and angular on the front end. I've since moved to be more of a backend java developer. What about you?
@Christopher Chen Nice, that sounds like a great first move!
I started in C# then was full stack LAMP for a lot of years but now I’m mostly backend with PHP. I have side projects in Python and Flutter/Dart.
Being in San Jose puts you in a tough spot.
San Francisco, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston are examples of primary markets which are NOT ideal for cashflow investing.
It could appreciate but I consider that gambling. Sophisticated investors invest on cashflow where the rents exceed the mortgage plus expenses (and enough money to pay for professional property manage to do our dirty work).
Sophisticated investors look at the Rent-to-Value Ratio and look for at least 1% or more to be able to cashflow after expenses. You find the Rent-to-Value Ratio by taking the monthly rent dividing by the purchase price. For example a $100,000 home that rents for 1,000 a month would have a Rent-to-Value Ratio of 1%. Most people I work with live in primary markets (as opposed to Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Memphis, Little Rock, Jacksonville, Ohio, or other secondary or tertiary markets) where the Rent-to-Value Ratios are under 1%.
Let me know if you need any specific pointers.
@Lane Kawaoka totally agree! The only reason I'm purchasing here is to lower my expenses. I realize I've spent 60k on rent in the past 2 years. Once I've reduced my expenses I plan on investing in Memphis.
Great advice. Are you primarily a cash flow investor? That's what I'm choosing to focus on now.
@Billy Linn full stack developer here :) focus on React.js, Python, Neo4j stack. Currently building my own CRM.
@Bryce DeCora that sounds interesting. I’ve wanted to use a graph database but I didn’t want to manage neo4j.
@Billy Linn I was a SQL lover, but after making the jump I’ll never go back
@Bryce DeCora
Nice I was a full stack developer too using those stacks! :)
@Christopher Chen Hey Chris! IT infrastructure guy here :)
Wife and I have a single SFR and the home we live in. We are gearing up for a owner occupied quadplex next.
Welcome aboard!
Also, maybe a few of us IT guys should get together and take down something bigger with an experienced partner?
Just a thought.
@Trent Chance
That’s awesome I’m totally following in your footsteps :)
And I totally agree! We should start our own syndicate. That would be awesome. Though I am gonna be tapped out for a bit if my offer gets accepted :)
@Christopher Chen same lol. I'm looking to sell the SFR and 1031 into.. something.
@Trent Chance
Keep me updated!
@Christopher Chen
Welcome Christopher!
@Martin Pacheco thanks Martin!
@Christopher Chen Welcome Christopher! You've come to the right place! Lots of good strategies and plenty of excellent people who can help you learn this business
Welcome Chris! Hope you find what you need; this site has been nothing but awesome for me so far!
Hi Chris, welcome to BP! It is amazing, isn't it? It's like a new world of 1.5MM members, who are interested in Real Estate Investing. Your excitement is infectious and I can so relate and is reminiscent of when I discover the site myself some years ago.
I'll add Rich Dad Poor Dad to the book list, it definitely helps with fundamentals and mindset!
Again, congratulations on your new-found discovery! 🤗🤗🤗
@Christopher Chen
Hey Chris,
Great to meet you! Welcome to Bigger Pockets!
@Christopher Chen welcome to BP. ots of people here are ready to help you on your way. Good luck.
