In the market for my first rental property!

[Matthew Porcaro]

Hello everybody! My name is Matt and I just turned 26 years old. I was born and raised in Long Island, NY. I've heard mixed things about this website, but as I'm in the market for my first property, I feel like this place will have the most information for me to help out with the process. 

I've been following the real estate industry for a little over 2 years now. I dabbled in wholesaling a bit, then my father and I, who owns a general contracting company looked on finding some more fix and flips in our area (Long Island, NY). We've done some back before 2008, but the market just doesn't look good around here anymore for that kind of strategy. I've been through multiple courses, REIA meetings, and mentors.

Since then I have been saving my money with the intent to buying a rental. My plan ultimately for the last year has been to acquire a property using leverage/conventional financing, spend a lot of time screening for tenants, and have the house paying itself off, all before I get married. I figure in the meantime while my girlfriend begins her career, I can continue to live at home until we get married and in the meantime will have the property paying itself off. Growing up in the contracting business, I intend to find something that we can build some equity into immediately, then rent it out to one or possibly two families if the layout allows for an accessory apartment. 

My county (Nassau County) on Long Island has the top 5 highest property taxes in the country. As you could imagine, that makes finding a rental that would be cash flowing pretty difficult. I haven't dug too much into it yet, but I think the only way of getting it to pay it self off totally is by having a second tenant. Outside of that option, there is always going out of state. With that comes the fear of the unknown, and having to learn to manage a property out of state, and learn the markets. I do know I can get a lot more bang for my buck out of state. Multifamily is ultimately what I'd be striving for and is a long term goal of mine. I would love to own or even one day develop multi-family real estate. 

Thanks for allowing to welcome myself, and I hope this becomes a place that I can look for help as I begin the journey.