Newbie in San Jose - considering leveraging equity

[Elizabeth Yoshida]

Hi Bigger Pockets Community, 

I'm Elizabeth from San Jose - married with two school-age kids. Totally non-original story...my husband and I both work full time (I'm a teacher) and we're interested in real estate investing. We're not really diversified with most of our investments tied up in retirement plans. Our primary residence has a considerable about of equity (Apparently that's true because I completed a HELOC pre-qual form online and immediately after I hit 'submit' my phone was ringing with loan offers and it hasn't stopped for the last 12 hours). We also have some cash available and we'd considering using some as a down payment or towards another form of real estate investment. I'm in the information gathering stage and considering multiple forms of investing - income rentals, REITs, and even crowdfunding (like Fundrise). Right now I'm feeling overwhelmed, excited, nervous, and impatient. That probably sounds familiar to most of you. I'm looking forward to meeting and learning from this community. Thanks for reading.

Elizabeth 

[Elizabeth Yoshida]

@Chrissy Nelson

So nice of you to respond! It's reassuring to hear that owning rental property out of state is do-able and that acquiring that first property is the hardest. I definitely feel like that's a big hurdle to get over! I'm currently doing all that you suggested - listening to the BP podcast and reading REI books and articles. I've also considered finding a mentor, since there are so many laws/tax/business details that I know nothing about. That's one of the next steps.

I don't think you're a newbie if you already have properties! You're on your way!

Thanks again.