Need to get a plan together

[Steven G.]

Hi All,

I have been lurking the forums for a while now and I appreciate the wealth of information provided by everyone, however I have not been able to form a plan that I am 100% confident going forward with.

I'll give a brief description of my situation:

I'm 31 years old living and working in Orange County, New York full time. I own/live in a small home that I did a complete renovation on a few years ago. I own this property free and clear(valued @$100k). I have no debt and a 750 credit score. I'd like to get involved in REI, but I'm hesitant to commit to anything thats close to where I live because the deals in my area are not very exciting in terms of wealth building. Am I wasting my time in this area and should be looking elsewhere?

I like the idea of owning and managing a multifamily, but as I stated I'm not confident there are any good deals nearby.  Managing an out of state property is a definite option for me, however it is very difficult to travel to different parts of the country just to look at possible investments.  

I'm comfortable with the idea of a fix & flip because I've already done an extensive renovation.  I have no experience in evaluating a fix & flips, so I would need to do some research in that area before moving forward.

Hearing from some of posters who are already up and going with their projects or in the same situation as me would be helpful.  WWYD?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Will Koederitz]

@Steven G.

Do you know how your current house would perform as a rental? See how much it would cash-flow since there is no debt. You could maybe purchase another house that needs to be renovated, move-in to that one, and rent your current place.  To me, this is a low risk because your current place is already debt-free.  You can also repeat this with a multi-family property.  I know you said the deals aren't that great, but if you get a 4-unit building, you could live in one of the units while renting the others and that may offset your current cost of living (or the money you could be gaining from renting your home).