Bought a home in October, living and (renting to travel Nurses) looking to buy again.

[Carlos O Gonzalez]

Hello,

I got bit by the real estate bug. I bought a home in October. Currently I am renting out all my bedrooms and stay on one of my living rooms. I rent out my rooms to travel nurses, as I've seen there is a need. 

I am interested in following this route as i am looking to purchase another home and follow this business model. I am in California, the central valley to be exact. I see a great amount of potential in this area as you can find several affordable homes. 

Looking for some advice and guidance if anyone is willing to share any tips or tools that can be of service to me. 

THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE. 

[Amanda Breck]

Welcome! Well done with your first investment!

Something you will need to take into account as your portfolio grows is an asset protection plan. Real estate investing is an inherently risky area to navigate in terms of liability, and you want to make sure that risk is mitigated wherever possible. With a small portfolio when you can handle less risk of loss, separating each property owned into an LLC to limit your personal liability and isolate one property from another is a good way to go. That way if a lawsuit due to some kind of accident on a property happens, any judgement is limited just to that LLC and that property rather than putting your personal assets and other properties at risk. As your portfolio and your risk tolerance grow, grouping properties becomes more reasonable.

With house-hacking scenarios where you also live in the property, you may need to get a bit creative as LLCs don't work well for property you are using for personal use. Considering something like your own management company to work with the tenants so you can keep your ownership private is useful.