Do I bite the bullet and do it?

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Do I bite the bullet and do it?

Joe B.
Raleigh, NC · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 1 vote

Hey all,

First post here. Been listening to the podcasts and decided to join the forum. Im 26, and sadly only make 20k a year. I have a masters in Healthcare administration, undergrad in international business; however I live in an absolute crap job market and I cannot get hired anywhere.

Im currently living in Wilmington NC. Only moved here because my parents did in 2013. Im originally from NJ where people hustle, theres multiple jobs, and property is 5x more expensive.

Although I only make 20k a year, I invest heavily. (Kinda sucks that people with a job waste their money every weekend while Im on short stack the last 2 years). I have around 25k I can play with for a down payment. In my area, I can get beautiful properties that were built 5-20 years ago for no more than 150k.

In the long run I want to be a real estate investor, I want to own multiple properties, and make passive income through it. My area as I said is cheap, and growing rapidly.

Would you recommend I purchase a property with the money I can play with? Would you recommend single family house vs condo/townhome? 

Is what I want to do realistic?

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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
9y

@Joe B.  forget investing for the moment your whofully undercapitalized.. and you could end up losing whatever you have.

if you want in real estate and your working part time now.. get a RE license cost maybe a grand.. so spend that on education.. get in with a top flight broker on their team.. earn while you learn.. then start saving money.. hang with the club that does deals  IE real estate agents.. you will find off market deals before anyone else and you don't have to send or spend money on marketing to get them its all in the club.

short of that take your degrees and energy and move to a better work environment.

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  • Joe B.
    OP
    Raleigh, NC · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 1 vote
    9y
    Originally posted by @William Murrell:

    +1 to house hacking. Pretty much your best option. I'd be interested to see how you got pre-approved for a loan on a 20k w2.  Credit score and investments are nice, but there still has to be income and you don't appear to have it.

    There's a lot of good advice in this thread, but I'd like to add some more. Your best bet when it comes to finding good, quality advice is to solicit it from people who are making it happen in your geographical area since REI is so local. However, as someone who was born and raised here in Wilmington and now invests here, I can say that the first thing I noticed is that the majority of your comments are very negative about the area. Which doesn't really inspire those of us who work and invest here to want to help. In particular, I can't help but notice the comment about how you're from NJ "where people hustle," as if people don't in Wilmington. Since 20k a year is about half of the median income for this area, I'd say you're not hustling.  I'd recommend you take another side job or perhaps switch careers entirely to get your reserves and income up to get the ball rolling.  You can certainly invest with little or no money down, but it definitely helps to have more seed money.

    I notice you also mentioned "no experienced investor I know of." There's a local REIA full of investors. And there's a ton of us locally who buy and hold, flip, etc. I think you've decided the area stinks before really doing your homework.

    eh didnt mean to use the word hustle like that. However its hard when the main industry is hospitality here. That aside, to go from being in a NYC environment, to a beach environment is a huge culture shock. At least for me it was. Regardless, this is a blossoming area. Im fairly positive I can get approved for a FHA loan.

    Also, how do all these Wilm people keep commenting in the thread here? Is there a way to search threads by location.

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  • William MurrellPro Member
    Investor · Wilmington, NC · Member since 2013 · 276 posts · 169 votes
    9y

    Culture shock, for sure.  I have gone the other way (from beach to city) and it's a big difference.  As for the approval, I would reach out and get confirmation first.  Having good credit like you mentioned is good, but they're not going to underwrite unless you have income to cover the debt service.   

    In regards to how so many of us are popping up in this thread for Wilmington, we all have keyword alerts set up.  So anytime someone talks about one of our keywords like "Wilmington," we get an email.

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