Hi everyone,

My name is Sari, I'm looking to get started. I've been a long-time BiggerPockets reader finally looking to step out of stall mode.

I grew up in Australia and spent much of my adult life traveling and renting around the world while enjoying a creative career.  I’ve loved the freedom of this chapter, but as many creatives know, it comes with a lot of volatility moving around usually in big cities stuck paying top rental dollars for everyone else mortgages. Since the pandemic I was pushed to think more intentionally about my long-term financial stability. 

I’ve always been interested in real estate and learning how others build wealth through it, and I’m now wanting to apply an investor mindset  to my first purchase.

My plan is to either house hack a duplex or get a SFH/row house and add light value

      I am interesting in finding investor experienced local agents  

• if it was a SFH we would look to add value through light cosmetic improvements

• hold long-term in a stable high demand rental area. 

• If it were a house hack in a duplex, we would live in one then long term find renters in an area with solid rental need

I’m currently focused on Philadelphia, I was looking at Atlanta but Philly seemed to offer a stronger mix of lower entry points, rental demand and long term upside and it’s also somewhere we’d genuinely live, closer to New York and access to that creative scene. 

I’m especially interested in how people structured their first deal to support future financing and scaling.

I’d love to hear from anyone who can speak some wisdom into

• debating living in a SFH and lightly upgrading vs house hack in a Duplex for their first deal?

• started later in life in their 40's and focused on momentum. We are ok to live on the fringe edge of a up and coming area but nothing under C+-B for long term quality of renters

• advantages and disadvantages of working with local lenders for bank statement loans or is it preferred to use statewide lenders for non traditional loans?

• Do you think its worth jumping in or waiting to mid year?

Really enjoying learning from this community. 

Sari