New Investor in Greenville SC area. Seems hard to find a house?

[Stephen K.]

Hey Everyone!

Happy to be here.  I've been doing my due diligence the past month and a half and spending every bit of free time I can to learn more about the real estate investment business.  I'm on my 4th book now and have been listening to a lot of BiggerPockets podcast episodes and I am super pumped!  Currently taking a look at finding some meetups to see if I can find some part time work under a real estate investor and get some more "hands on" experience in this business.

I've been scouring the listings to see whats in the Greenville SC area. My wife and I have about 5k right now to get a SFH and may/may not have another 10k in the next year. I was kind of thinking to use this 5k to invest in our first house hack SFH that needs some work (get a max up to say 75k max which would give us about 5% down or 10% if we could get a 50k house) and borrow the rest through either FHA or an 80-10-10 loan depending on the price of the house. If we got another 5-10k later on down the road get another house or 2 and rent our first property. I've been keeping an eye out on Taylors, Greer, Greenville, Mauldin, Simpsonville, and Spartanburg. Seems there are a few houses in Greer, Spartanburg, and Greenville that would be in the price point we are looking at, but I am bit worried about the Competitive market here. I've been looking since August of last year and from what I understood Winter is generally the slowest time of the year for the real estate market. Houses here, however, seem to go fast! Prior to looking at Real Estate Investing I was looking at houses in the 150k range for the past 6 months and it was no different in this price range either. As someone looking to get into the real estate market that makes me a little nervous. It seems like finding a house with a "20% discount" as is so often talked about in the books I read is extremely hard to find in this area. I've been adding HUD houses in the search and those go even quicker! Maybe I am missing something, but this area does not seem to be very beginning investor friendly. Should we consider other areas?

[JD Morris]

I can’t give you advice from experience. I’m in same boat as you and in the same market. But I’ve got some wise, experienced investors around me reminding me to be patient and not jump into something that’s not a deal just to get a property. But when a deal does come, don’t be afraid to go after it. That’s what I’m trying to do right now.

Good luck!