Apartment Investing Advise

[Aaron Millis]

Hi BP,

So I am looking to get into multi family properties in the pretty near future and I just wanted to get anyone’s 2 cents that owns a commercial multi family property and to see how you started.

I have one rental property now that I live in (house hacking) and i am in the process of doing a HELOC on the property. So once that goes through I'll have roughly 50K of capital to play with.

I live in Auburn Alabama and the market here is pretty crazy so I have been looking at surrounding cities like Montgomery and Birmingham that are bigger and more affordable.

I know that the typical down payment someone’s needs for commercial is 25% so short of me getting seller financing, or a partner, or some other creative finance path my purchase power leads me towards properties that are typically in lower income areas- at least for the ones I’ve spotted. (200K ish)

I’ve listened to pretty much every podcast multiple times and often hear people saying that when they begin they focus more on cash flow and as they grow they look more towards appreciation opportunities. The kind of properties that are in my price range mostly seem like they would not see much appreciation in the foreseeable future.

So If you were me what would you do? Im definitely not the “analysis paralysis“ type of person therefore my worry Is that Ill jump Into something I shouldn't. Also probably worth mentioning I would definitely be wanting to self manage any acquired property, partly for the experience and also just because I have plenty of time to invest. Thanks.