New investor in Baltimore, MD

[Ryan Cu]

Hi everyone,

I’m pretty new to investing in real estate and it’s great to find this resource here at Biggerpockets. I wanted to ask around for some advice on purchasing my first property. I have about $500K that I have saved up and put away over the years for investment purposes and I would like to finally use it on my first property investment(s). I’m currently a grad student and will be for at least 2-3 more years, so I have no source of income that I can use to get a mortgage loan. My goal is to get financial freedom through real estate investments so that I can become a full-time artist after graduating and not have to worry about paying the bills. I’m not quite sure what the best strategy is in my circumstance because I don’t anticipate that I’ll be able to take out loans since I’m a student. Many people seem to suggest a multi-family home or smaller apartment complex as a good rental investment for the $500k, or perhaps purchasing some fixer-upper condos. I’m pretty open to options though and would be willing to learn how to flip houses, manage properties, etc…whatever strategy is needed to grow this $500k as fast as possible without the use of loans. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? Thanks!

[Ryan Cu]

Originally posted by @Jonathan Dempsey:

@Ryan Cu

Hey Ryan, congrats on your interest in starting your RE journey. I am sure we all can appreciate your aspirations to focus on your artistic passions full time. To be sure that I am reading that right...you saved up $500,000 before going to graduate school?

There is alot you can do with $500K. Your answer is going to come down to what your monthly expenses in combination with how passive you are looking for your investment(s) to be.

Yes that is correct. My monthly expenses are not high, and I also have some additional money set aside to cover my tuition and I'm currently debt free too. My goal is to eventually have my investments become passive, but I'm willing to slog it out for a few years and really learn the trade. I'd like to reach a point in the future (hopefully in the coming years) where I can live very comfortably, pursue my artistic passions, and support my parents as they get into retirement age.