New to Real Estate · Boston, MA · Member since 2022 · 4 posts · 2 votes
I am 19 years old and I currently live just outside of Boston. I am looking at entering the rental real estate investing world but I am not sure if I have enough money to get started here. I only have about 10k saved up and would definitely need positive cash flow within 2 years.
Am I condemned to look for out of state deals, or could I find anything an hour from here?
@Jonah Stephens the fact of the matter is, while it's important to get into real estate early, you also have plenty of time. At 19 years old I don't even think I had $1,000 saved up let alone 10k. If I were you I would do exactly what you're doing now to connect and network with top-performing investors in your market. See if you can find someone to shadow while providing your time and value in exchange to learn how to be successful in the industry. if you're looking for a more practical approach, your best avenue is to continue to save, build your credit, and house hack your first property. Lastly, join your local REIA. Hope this helps!
@Jonah Stephens the fact of the matter is, while it's important to get into real estate early, you also have plenty of time. At 19 years old I don't even think I had $1,000 saved up let alone 10k. If I were you I would do exactly what you're doing now to connect and network with top-performing investors in your market. See if you can find someone to shadow while providing your time and value in exchange to learn how to be successful in the industry. if you're looking for a more practical approach, your best avenue is to continue to save, build your credit, and house hack your first property. Lastly, join your local REIA. Hope this helps!
There's nothing you can buy worth buying for $10k. Looking out of state is not going to help you. The good news is you're only 19 and have your whole life ahead of you to earn money and invest it. In the mean time get a job in RE, learn everything you can.
@Jonah Stephens Is a house hack a goal of yours in the future? Study the requirements for an FHA loan like a book and make sure to set yourself up for success. Examples would be building up your credit, getting the most recent tax returns for the last 2 years in the same field, building up capital for the down payment, closing costs and 6 months in reserves so you can use as much of the rental income from the other units as your own income when you getting qualified. These are some barriers I had to make sure to be able to climb over. Let me know what questions you have I drove for Uber during college for roughly 18 months to get 2 years of the same 1099 income on my tax returns. Theoretically you could do it in just 13 months but you want to make sure you have enough income shown to qualify. I wrote off too many items and miles the first year and didn't realize the consequences of that. In terms of cash, I have conservatively allocated 20k for my house hack. 6125 (3.5% of down payment) + 4000 (closing costs) + 7000 (6 months of cash reserves to maximize the rental income I can pull from the other units to help me qualify) = 17.125k. The extra 3k is for any cosmetic upgrades or repairs that I make to add some value although that isn't the main goal with this house hack. It is to live for free and build equity!
10K is a great start. Keep saving towards a down payment and establishing a reliable source of income. Remember once you buy something, you may have to inject money for unforeseen events. So you'll want to have additional funds to cover those costs. Great on you for thinking about it at a young age.
So the hill towns in central and western mass are actually within reach with 10k and FHA loan.
You see decent places in greenfield, turners falls etc in the 200s and 300s. You get people have made some inroads and changes. Leominster, Lunenberg all have appeal to people and are coming into your house hacking range.You also see a lot of crap out there so easy to get burned. . 3.5 % of 300k is 10.5 so you are essentially there.
Not saying you should, I think it’s better to grow a little more, but sometimes it’s nice to realize it is possible!
I am 19 years old and I currently live just outside of Boston. I am looking at entering the rental real estate investing world but I am not sure if I have enough money to get started here. I only have about 10k saved up and would definitely need positive cash flow within 2 years.
Am I condemned to look for out of state deals, or could I find anything an hour from here?
Get your real estate license, move to Mississippi and work with me. I can put you in a house for you to hack for 10K tomorrow. Assuming what you mean by "hack" is "render livable and flip for a profit." If the word "Mississippi" is a huge obstacle for you, well, what can I say. You'd be passing up the chance to be a rich man.