When should a new investor enter this market?

[Thomas O'Donnell]

Hello all!

I am a new investor looking to move to Columbus, OH soon and purchase my first property via house-hacking. However, I am not sure what to expect with this market as in waiting for prices to drop or buying asap. Interest rates are rising ans I feel like the RE market has some uncertainty surrounding it at the moment. I want to be smart with the minimal cash that I have and make sure that I am buying a great deal to protect myself. I don’t want to dive in head first and then watch the market crash. What are some ways that I can enter this market and when should I enter the market? All advice is greatly appreciated!

[Ashley Cross]

The best time to enter the market is as soon as you are ready to enter the market. If you wait for a market crash you may be waiting for years while the interest rates continue to increase or it probably won’t happen and you will miss out on a ton of appreciation. I honestly don’t think a market crash will happen just a slight market correction. House hacking is a great way to start while mitigating your risk. Even if the other unit(s) only cover 50% of the mortgage payment, you’ll be able to save that for the next deal. Not all my purchases in Columbus have been home runs but I don’t regret any of them. What I do regret is not offering the $20-$30k more for the deals that I ended up missing out on but hindsight is 20/20.