Hey everyone, a bit about me
Im 20 years old, raised in CA, and am presently deployed to Japan with the Navy. I think this provides a great chance to save up a tidy sum of money for at least a modest down payment. Im thinking at least 30k by the time I leave here.
I would like some guidance, however. Mostly as to what I should do and where. Granted, that means pretty much everything... I guess I should outline my general goals and thoughts on the matter.
First off, I like the idea of being a landlord. To be perfectly honest, I dont like money, however, money makes the world go'round and the things I DO like require money. Basically, I want to rent property. I dont much want to buy and flip... I can deal with fixer-upers, as I enjoy the hands on aspect.
I would like to get started with a du/tri/fourplex in the centeral CA area (fat chance I know), but could deal with any such dwelling anywhere from WA and TX, and possibly select north-eastern states. Florida has this thing with hurricanes that dont really sit well with me (I was there for A school right before Katrina hit). I have relatives in OR, CA, and TX, so I could possibly (depending on the exact location) have family be property managers for me while I am gone. If not, I wouldnt have an issue hiring one, so as long as Im not operating at a loss (of course).
However the reality, so I have been told, is that it would take a long time to make any real equity or other profit from a rental unit, and thus, would make it hard to purchase additional property in the short term future. I could deal with a few buy and flips in the inital investment period, so as long as it enables me to get and keep at least one rental.
Also, I dont have much of an issue moving about. I dont have my own home anywhere, so I could have a property in say western TX (where no one I know lives) and move there myself to maintain it. Its a non-issue. But would it be worth it, investment wise?
My overall goal is to have substantial property when I get out of the Navy. I may or may not retire after 20 years, I may not even do a full 20 years, but if I do, I would like to have rental property be a nice source of income for myself and my family.
So any suggestions? I know I dont have much money to invest at this exact moment, and I know the real estate market is rather dynamic, but if someone could point me to some areas, or even specfic properties, just to get the jist of what to look for, I would greatly appreciate it.
Oh one more thing, someone suggested that if I wanted to get into single family homes to rent in CA, to look at forclosers. I went to forcloser.com, and boy, theres lot of broke people out there. Thing is, of all the costs they put down, how much do I actually pay on a pre-forcloser (since thats what most are)? Ive been doing a lot of research but foreclosers are something new to me at the moment. They seem cheap, and worth their price, but I must be missing something... Possibly...
Ah well, thank you anwyays guys, and like I said any help will be greatly appreciated!