Preparing to start the real estate investment journey

Preparing to start the real estate investment journey

Member since 2023 · 2 posts · 4 votes

I have always been interested in real estate and grew up watching my grandparents managing multiple rentals. I am not planning their exact path but something like it. Real estate has always intrigued me and feel like there is so much that can be accomplished with investing in a project, making it something, and then seeing the return for it. I have no experience in real estate or investing which means I know I have a lot to learn and multiple podcasts to watch before I can get going. I want to make sure I learn everything I can so that I make the best decisions possible throughout the process. I have worked most of my life as an administrative assistant and going to college for my associates in business administration which gives me the administrative background to be able to succeed in real estate. I am actually in Whatcom County so I would want to stay around here or even Skagit County. My goal is to invest in places that I can turn into short term vacation rentals, in a hotel, and eventually invest in rental storage units.  I am literally starting from the bottom of all of this and figuring out my steps so please, any advice, coaching, and support is very much welcomed! 

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Realtor · Bellevue, WA · Member since 2019 · 882 posts · 1k+ votes
3y

Welcome @Angela Grantham to BP!

It is a great place to be here since you can network with like-minded investors and agents. You will learn a lot.

Besides reading, watching episodes, and educating yourself, I will recommend you to start working on your pre-approval, then get yourself a house hack where you can live in part of the property, while do a STR in the other half!

Reach out anytime if you got questions!

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  • Solo 401k Expert · Anaheim Hills, CA · Member since 2012 · 18k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    3y

    Welcome to the BP family @Angela Grantham , you came to the right place to learn all about real estate investing!

    Read Beginner’s Guide to help you get started: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

    Good luck on your journey!

  • Julio GonzalezPro Member
    Specialist · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    3y

    Glad to have you on the forum, Angela! 

    Best, 
    Julio

  • Forsyth, GA · Member since 2018 · 25 posts · 30 votes
    3y

    Hi Angela, welcome to Bigger Pockets! If I were in your shoes wanting to get started, I would pursue house hacking. You can either buy a single family home and rent out the rooms or you can buy up to 4 units (either duplex, triplex, or quad) and live in one unit while renting out the others. I've always read that first time home buyers can purchase up to 4 units using an FHA loan with as little as 3.5% for your down payment.

    You mentioned interest in STR-- you could get one unit set up as STR and then based on how it performs decided whether STR is the best strategy for the other units.

    Here is a link regarding house hacking for you: 

    House Hacking: What Is It, How to Start, and Strategies for Success (biggerpockets.com)

    Good Luck!

  • Sheri FluellenBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Cheyenne, WY · Member since 2020 · 123 posts · 64 votes
    3y

    Welcome!! I second the idea of buying a place that you can live in while simultaneously renting out another part of it. ESPECIALLY if you can do one or more units as STR. For example, I have a couple 4-plexes where 3 of the units are STR. I converted them 1 at a time as they came vacant. Partly to reduce the up front costs of furnishing a unit all at once, and partly to ensure that I could keep the one profitable and rented and get my systems in place before expanding.

    The Titan Real Estate Team, Real Broker52 Reviews
  • Member since 2021 · 376 posts · 242 votes
    3y

    Welcome to Bigger Pockets, this is an excellent place to learn a lot regarding real estate. I would be happy to offer any advice and support that I can. Regarding your plan to acquire properties for STR, I think you are situated in a good place to do that. I am not too familiar with the Whatcom County or Skagit Valley real estate markets but I have traveled in that region (gorgeous portion of the country) and I do think there is a lot of potential there for STRs. Some advice I would offer is to try to house hack if you can. This means purchasing a multifamily property and personally residing in one unit while using the remaining units as rentals. This would allow you subsidize your own living expenses by having your guests and tenants pay for your mortgage and hopefully you will be able to generate cash flow as well. Picking a location is absolutely vital to having a good STR since you want to make sure you are situated in an area that provides easy access to the main attractions. You likely know more about the region than I do but I did have a few ideas and concerns in Skagit Valley in particular when I traveled there. The main attractions I am familiar with there are the Skagit Valley Tulip festival and North Cascades National Park. While North Cascades isn't as well known as other nearby parks such as Olympic or Rainier; it would be an excellent potential market for people from nearby Seattle to visit that want to try something different. Nearby access to a large metropolitan area like Seattle gives you a great marketplace to draw guests from if you are able to provide a nice enough experience to lure them from other trip options to your STR. This is assuming that region isn't currently saturated with STRs already so that will take market research on your part. One concern may be the seasonal nature of STRs there. A lot of North Cascades isn't open year around and the Tulip Festival only lasts a few weeks which means you may have to deal with drastically different revenue levels during high and low seasons. I hope this advice helps you a bit and once your STR is up and running, I look forward to you sharing it here. I greatly enjoyed my last trip to North Cascades so would like to support a fellow Bigger Pocket's member's STR next time I find myself in that region. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions and best of luck on your real estate journey!

  • Julie MarquezPro Member
    Investor · Skagit County, WA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 807 votes
    3y

    @Angela Grantham Welcome to real estate investing and to Bigger Pockets. I agree with  

    @Shannon Smith to start with house hacking, it's just the simplest way to do a deal and get some experience. Find a local bank to get approved and a real estate friendly agent to help you find and analyze deals. I hear good things about Peoples Bank but use BECU for a lot of my personal loans. Start looking at properties and get hungry!

    There are also a lot of network groups in the area so you can meet with folks, and I have always found that to be helpful in my investing. Good luck with the journey!

  • Real Estate Agent · Member since 2018 · 459 posts · 414 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Angela Grantham:

    I have always been interested in real estate and grew up watching my grandparents managing multiple rentals. I am not planning their exact path but something like it. Real estate has always intrigued me and feel like there is so much that can be accomplished with investing in a project, making it something, and then seeing the return for it. I have no experience in real estate or investing which means I know I have a lot to learn and multiple podcasts to watch before I can get going. I want to make sure I learn everything I can so that I make the best decisions possible throughout the process. I have worked most of my life as an administrative assistant and going to college for my associates in business administration which gives me the administrative background to be able to succeed in real estate. I am actually in Whatcom County so I would want to stay around here or even Skagit County. My goal is to invest in places that I can turn into short term vacation rentals, in a hotel, and eventually invest in rental storage units.  I am literally starting from the bottom of all of this and figuring out my steps so please, any advice, coaching, and support is very much welcomed! 

    Happy to have you here! Learn as much as you can but knowledge is useless without action! There are a lot of smart people out there, make sure your knowledge takes action. Listen to the BP podcast, Ryan Pineda has some very good episodes as well. Get involved in local REI meetups, and don't hesitate to reach out and ask others questions! Be authentically curious and learn something new every day. Hope that helps!

  • Real Estate Agent · Seattle, WA · Member since 2019 · 243 posts · 246 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Angela Grantham:

    I have always been interested in real estate and grew up watching my grandparents managing multiple rentals. I am not planning their exact path but something like it. Real estate has always intrigued me and feel like there is so much that can be accomplished with investing in a project, making it something, and then seeing the return for it. I have no experience in real estate or investing which means I know I have a lot to learn and multiple podcasts to watch before I can get going. I want to make sure I learn everything I can so that I make the best decisions possible throughout the process. I have worked most of my life as an administrative assistant and going to college for my associates in business administration which gives me the administrative background to be able to succeed in real estate. I am actually in Whatcom County so I would want to stay around here or even Skagit County. My goal is to invest in places that I can turn into short term vacation rentals, in a hotel, and eventually invest in rental storage units.  I am literally starting from the bottom of all of this and figuring out my steps so please, any advice, coaching, and support is very much welcomed! 


     Hi Angela! Welcome to Seattle. If you want to get started in your journey, I would highly recommend attending meetups in the area. I run one on the 3rd Thursday of every month at Umpqua bank. That would be a great one for you to check out; it's for new investors, house hackers, and vacation rental folks. 

    My personal specialty is Airbnb, so I'd be happy to chat more with you about markets that work & markets that don't. Shoot me a DM if you want to chat more. 

    Happy investing!

  • Real Estate Agent · WA · Member since 2021 · 254 posts · 173 votes
    3y

    Glad to have you on board mate. Read lots of books, follow people who are more successful than you, and create an undying passion for learning more. 

    I highly recommend any house hacking book on this website as well as experts such as David Greene and Pace Morby. Scout around and see which one fits your methodology the best and stick to it! House hacking can be a very emotional and tumultuous journey so you must keep running through the gun fire no matter what. 

    Good luck.

  • Realtor · Bellevue, WA · Member since 2019 · 882 posts · 1k+ votes
    3y

    Welcome @Angela Grantham to BP!

    It is a great place to be here since you can network with like-minded investors and agents. You will learn a lot.

    Besides reading, watching episodes, and educating yourself, I will recommend you to start working on your pre-approval, then get yourself a house hack where you can live in part of the property, while do a STR in the other half!

    Reach out anytime if you got questions!

  • Member since 2023 · 2 posts · 4 votes
    3y

    I do have a question that I need your opinions on! I just bought a house about 6 months ago with a FHA loan which I cannot turn into a house hack investment unfortunately, therefore I am unable to buy a place using a FHA loan. I do not feel I would qualify for a conventional loan due to my income and all of the savings that I had went to buying the house I bought so that has been depleted. This is something that I have thought about for a long time, part of my family was in real estate investing but have not been in years and completely out of the loop, my background has absolutely nothing to do with construction so rehabbing a house is probably not an option for me but this is something that I want to get into and commit to!!! How do people in my situation able to start investing in real estate? Is it possible? How do I find deals in my community when I do not have the money to make a deal? My dream is to have STR rentals but wiling to start from anywhere I can, taking it all one step at a time. I have been listening to the podcasts and learning the elements that are needed to peruse real estate investing along with possible strategies for financing. I also acknowledge that having contacts to find deals is huge so I am reaching out the you guys to help me figure this out! At this point, I am thinking local (Skagit/Whatcom County area).

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2021 · 58 posts · 21 votes
    3y

    Welcome, Angela! I would network as much as possible and provide value to as many people as possible with hopes of finding a mentor that can help guide you through this journey. Other than that, I would try to avoid analysis paralysis. You will learn more in your first couple of deals than any book can teach you. Best of luck!

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