Looking for advice

[Blake Bailey]

Hey guys I am new to the group and just wanted to be an open book and see what you guys would do in my shoes. I am 24, married, have a home that i already own outright with no mortgage and we have about $65k in liquid cash. I have a associates degree in business management but I have been reselling on Amazon, eBay and a few other places since 2019 full time. I have grown tired of what I do and I am about to take my final exam to become a real estate agent as well, but my main goal since about 2017 has been to eventually become a full time investor. I have looked into doing about everything and this is the one thing that I have found that really piques my interest and I am beyond ready to get started. I have been listening to the podcast episodes, watching the youtube videos and reading the forums for about 2 years on and off and I am tired of procrastinating but just have no idea how to take the first step towards my goals of financial freedom. Should I get pre approved? Should I start calculating deals? It's just pretty overwhelming because I am doing this totally alone in a town of about 5k people and just have no idea how to get the ball rolling and I thought I might see what some of you guys think. Any tips would be so appreciated. TIA! 

-Blake

[Jason Wray]

Blake,

All good questions and you are in a good position to buy an investment property to start building your real estate portfolio. First piece of advice that I give to all of my new investors I coach is get your Pre-Approval. This will allow you to see what programs will save the most money on the down payment and still maximize cash flow.

The Pre-approval lets you check your buying power and the Banker can help you understand which one makes the most sense. Most real estate agents will request a pre-approval letter before they show you homes in most cases.

You can typically ask the Banker or Loan officer for a realtor they use in the county that deals with investment properties. There is a big difference between a realtor who specializes in mostly primary homes versus investment homes. You want to work with a realtor who knows the home value, ARV potential, Local rents, and aggressive enough to get a good price and possibly even seller contributions.

The Banker can also help you run the numbers on payment versus the rents to check cash flow up front. You can also look at ARV options prior to buying the home to see how much you can take out on say the refinance in 6 months to pull out cash for another properties down payment. Once you understand and get comfortable with the BRRRR process it can become a little addicting!

If you have any questions feel free to email me or check out my profile, I am always happy to happy to help other BP members!