New to real estate, looking to quit my job
Member since 2019 · 7 posts · 2 votes
Hello! So as the title says I am new to real estate investing and looking to get into it full time in the next few years. I recently got out of the military (about a year ago) and have since been working at a job that allows me to make around 200k per year. I want to get off on the right foot and would love any advice you guys have. I am working my way through the podcasts right now and that info is great but still have an uneasy feeling about where to start...I am sure there are 100s of these posts every day and i am sure there is a great resource collection of things i can read, but i tend to understand things quicker and with more detail by having conversations with people.
@Cameron Rockey I would suggest starting with a strategy that will replace your income. With that said if you are going to buy and hold you would need a lender in your corner to help you scale a portfolio. W-2 income is key. If you are going to flip properties realize that flipping is really a job. So if you want to flip you would be transferring one job for another. All the best to you.
@Cameron Rockey Welcome!
I am very new to real estate investing as well - as in I am still looking for my first deal, so there are some people with more knowledge than me.
However, I would recommend a few things:
First, finish editing your profile. Add a picture so that people know who you are. If you have been listening to the podcasts, you'll come to realize that perception is everything in business. Tell people where you are from and what you are interested in doing. Which leads us to our next point.
Second, what is your niche in the real estate market? Do you want to be a cash partner in a deal? Do you want to wholesale? Do you want to fix and flip? Are you interested in commercial property, residential, land, multi-family, single family? There are a lot of different ways to get plugged into this market, but only you know what you want to do?
Third, assess if real estate is really for you. Do you want to do this because you hate your job? Or you think you are going to make more money this way? If so, you might want to think twice about real estate. It's just like anything else. If you make a million dollar a month doing it, but you hate every second of it, is it really worth it? I'm interested in real estate because I love finding and analyzing deal and helping people solve problems. Spending my time in an excel spreadsheet sounds like time well spent.
You can find more information about this in the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Real Estate Investing (https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investin...). From there, you should start reading books, learning from podcasts and forums, and attending local BiggerPockets and REIA meetings to network with other real estate investors in your area.
Hope that this is helpful to you! Good luck on your journey.
@Cameron Rockey I would suggest starting with a strategy that will replace your income. With that said if you are going to buy and hold you would need a lender in your corner to help you scale a portfolio. W-2 income is key. If you are going to flip properties realize that flipping is really a job. So if you want to flip you would be transferring one job for another. All the best to you.
@Cameron Rockey Welcome!
I am very new to real estate investing as well - as in I am still looking for my first deal, so there are some people with more knowledge than me.
However, I would recommend a few things:
First, finish editing your profile. Add a picture so that people know who you are. If you have been listening to the podcasts, you'll come to realize that perception is everything in business. Tell people where you are from and what you are interested in doing. Which leads us to our next point.
Second, what is your niche in the real estate market? Do you want to be a cash partner in a deal? Do you want to wholesale? Do you want to fix and flip? Are you interested in commercial property, residential, land, multi-family, single family? There are a lot of different ways to get plugged into this market, but only you know what you want to do?
Third, assess if real estate is really for you. Do you want to do this because you hate your job? Or you think you are going to make more money this way? If so, you might want to think twice about real estate. It's just like anything else. If you make a million dollar a month doing it, but you hate every second of it, is it really worth it? I'm interested in real estate because I love finding and analyzing deal and helping people solve problems. Spending my time in an excel spreadsheet sounds like time well spent.
You can find more information about this in the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Real Estate Investing (https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investin...). From there, you should start reading books, learning from podcasts and forums, and attending local BiggerPockets and REIA meetings to network with other real estate investors in your area.
Hope that this is helpful to you! Good luck on your journey.
Nathan,
1.) Thanks for the tip on the profile! I didn't even realize that there was more to fill out (I was using the mobile app to post and it didn't show my profile stuff) I will for sure be updating that very soon.
2.) I think right now I am really interested in doing some fix and flips to get my feet wet in the process and turning them in to rentals if things don't work out budget wise. Long term though, I would like to get more into apartments and maybe even hotels. I figure those could use a bit more capital and unless I can find the private funding I am not sure those are the type of things I want to jump right into.
3.) So I really think real estate has a calling for me. I have bought and sold 3 houses already (ones that I lived in while I was on active duty) and during the time I owned each I was constantly doing my own renovations and looking for ways to improve them. Also, it drives my wife nuts, but I can spend all day going to houses that are for sale and walking them. I literally used to spend my weekends going to open houses just to get an idea of what some of them look like and then think of ways I would renovate them to make them better. I also think the main thing about my job that I don't like is the feeling of being restricted to someone else's schedule and their goals. I really want to be able to do my own thing and set my own schedule.
Hopefully that gives you some clarity on my ambitions and current thought process, and thanks for taking the time to respond to my post!
-Cameron
@Cameron Rockey I would suggest starting with a strategy that will replace your income. With that said if you are going to buy and hold you would need a lender in your corner to help you scale a portfolio. W-2 income is key. If you are going to flip properties realize that flipping is really a job. So if you want to flip you would be transferring one job for another. All the best to you.
Shawn,
Thanks for the reply! So I totally understand the idea of trading one job for another with flipping. I think the problem with my current job is that I am tied down to someone else's goals and schedule. I think flipping houses would give me that self-fulfilling feeling that I am currently lacking. So for W-2 income I have at least 1 years worth at my current job and I have 10 years worth of military W-2's. Not sure those will help me but that is what I have currently. The work I did in the military is the same field that I am in now and I think that is how the bank used my current job's salary to get my current house approved. Ideally I think I would like to have a mix of both fix and flips and long term rentals in some form of multifamily. I don't plan on replacing my income anytime soon but I would like to be well on my way to doing that in the next 5 years if that is at all possible.
Thanks,
Cameron
@Cameron Rockey one thing I failed to mentioned prior was Salute for your service to this country. With that said, I think a game plan of accumulating a rental portfolio(sustainable income) would be in order. We are at or nearing the top of the market I feel and all it would take is one bad flip to potentially tank you. Whereas if the flipping biz goes south you can fall back on rental income to maintain your lifestyle. The vertical income of flipping is fleeting however buy and holds are a more longterm play. Hope that helps. A 2-4 year plan should be all you need to sustain you for your REI endurance race. Always remember to persist and you will WIN!!!!
@Cameron Rockey have you thought about simply interning with a real estate investor? Or potentially getting your real estate license? I am military as well and have started a business around investing and brokerage. We provide internship opportunities for transitioning veterans, which makes me think there may be something like that available in your market. Ultiamtely, real estate is an entrepreneurial journey no matter how you slice it. Money will come and go. The "stability" is really only found with your consistancy. It is easy to say, or think, that you can have a "care free" financial life with real estate but it is not the case for many entrepreneurs. Keep up the hard work and best of luck on your real estate journey.
Welcome to Bigger Pockets!
This is a great place to learn and network. A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.
I would suggest talking to a good mortgage broker before making any changes to any of your W2 jobs that you have held for at least 1-2 years. Have the mortgage specialist review all of your #s and run by all your pay stubs, history etc first to make sure you won't have any issues when it comes to financing a deal. This is not really an issue if using cash to fund a deal, but if you plan on using the bank -- that is what I would do. Have them review your tax reports too and make sure everything is fully vetted.
Hello! So as the title says I am new to real estate investing and looking to get into it full time in the next few years. I recently got out of the military (about a year ago) and have since been working at a job that allows me to make around 200k per year. I want to get off on the right foot and would love any advice you guys have. I am working my way through the podcasts right now and that info is great but still have an uneasy feeling about where to start...I am sure there are 100s of these posts every day and i am sure there is a great resource collection of things i can read, but i tend to understand things quicker and with more detail by having conversations with people.
Hi Cameron,
Every week it seems like there's someone who likes to quit their job and jump into real estate.
Having said that, I commend you that you have not quit your job yet and wants to have a plan that will enable you to quit :)
$200K/yr in passive income is definitely possible. However, it is much easier to do with apartment deals vs. houses. Now, if you want $200K/yr in active income, you can achieve that by flipping houses (fix-n-sell).
I really depends on what you want. Also, it depends too on how much time you can devote to real estate investing. If with your $200K job you have very little time left, then explore the possibility of investing passively as a private lender or investor. If, on the other hand, you can devote 10-15 hours a week, then you can become an active investor and do deals on your own.
My suggestion - if you can invest actively and if you want to go via the apartment building route (which is my expertise - I have acquired over 1,000 apartment units), is you start in your local market and start with a 4-unit apartment. You can use it to learn on a smaller scale and once you learn and hopefully earn, you can 1031 exchange that to a bigger property with bigger cashflow.
@Cameron Rockey have you thought about simply interning with a real estate investor? Or potentially getting your real estate license? I am military as well and have started a business around investing and brokerage. We provide internship opportunities for transitioning veterans, which makes me think there may be something like that available in your market. Ultiamtely, real estate is an entrepreneurial journey no matter how you slice it. Money will come and go. The "stability" is really only found with your consistancy. It is easy to say, or think, that you can have a "care free" financial life with real estate but it is not the case for many entrepreneurs. Keep up the hard work and best of luck on your real estate journey.
Michael,
So I have not thought about doing an internship with a real estate investor mainly because I am not sure how I would make that work while working my normal job. I guess I would see that as helping someone else with their deals and not towards my own goals? I may be way off on that but it would seem like something I could get great knowledge out of but not something that would be 100% feasible given my current situation.
I would suggest talking to a good mortgage broker before making any changes to any of your W2 jobs that you have held for at least 1-2 years. Have the mortgage specialist review all of your #s and run by all your pay stubs, history etc first to make sure you won't have any issues when it comes to financing a deal. This is not really an issue if using cash to fund a deal, but if you plan on using the bank -- that is what I would do. Have them review your tax reports too and make sure everything is fully vetted.
Would you recommend going to a local bank for that or something that is more national? or possibly a credit union? Sorry if this seems like a typical "newbie" question but like most people on here, I dont want to waste time tracking down paths that will ultimately be the wrong place to go if I can avoid it.
Hello! So as the title says I am new to real estate investing and looking to get into it full time in the next few years. I recently got out of the military (about a year ago) and have since been working at a job that allows me to make around 200k per year. I want to get off on the right foot and would love any advice you guys have. I am working my way through the podcasts right now and that info is great but still have an uneasy feeling about where to start...I am sure there are 100s of these posts every day and i am sure there is a great resource collection of things i can read, but i tend to understand things quicker and with more detail by having conversations with people.
Hi Cameron,
Every week it seems like there's someone who likes to quit their job and jump into real estate.
Having said that, I commend you that you have not quit your job yet and wants to have a plan that will enable you to quit :)
$200K/yr in passive income is definitely possible. However, it is much easier to do with apartment deals vs. houses. Now, if you want $200K/yr in active income, you can achieve that by flipping houses (fix-n-sell).
I really depends on what you want. Also, it depends too on how much time you can devote to real estate investing. If with your $200K job you have very little time left, then explore the possibility of investing passively as a private lender or investor. If, on the other hand, you can devote 10-15 hours a week, then you can become an active investor and do deals on your own.
My suggestion - if you can invest actively and if you want to go via the apartment building route (which is my expertise - I have acquired over 1,000 apartment units), is you start in your local market and start with a 4-unit apartment. You can use it to learn on a smaller scale and once you learn and hopefully earn, you can 1031 exchange that to a bigger property with bigger cashflow.
Michael,
Thanks for the great advice! So I am fully planning on spending my nights and weekends working on building this until I can replace my full time job with this. As someone who owns that many apartment units, how would you recommend finding them locally? Even 4-units here seem kinda hard to find unless I want to go into some really sketchy parts of the city for it. I really want to start with multiunits but when I look on sites like realtor or zillow I can never really find something. Thanks again for the advice/help!
Welcome to the BP community! I know what you mean, I still have a part-time W2 in addition to being a real estate agent full time. Let's just say I am about to make a big choice in my career, and it's a little scary.
I just wanted to highlight the possibility of "moonlighting" fora few years; in other words, a W2 job doesn't stop you from getting your feet wet with REI...
The most important aspect many new investors overlook is knowing their WHY. What will get you out of bed at the crack of dawn, and make you push through the hard days?
Once you've got that down, nothing will stop you.
I just wrote my first BP blog post on how I stumbled into real estate investing. I hope it helps you? https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/11976/8...
Good luck to you @Cameron Rockey!
Hello! So as the title says I am new to real estate investing and looking to get into it full time in the next few years. I recently got out of the military (about a year ago) and have since been working at a job that allows me to make around 200k per year. I want to get off on the right foot and would love any advice you guys have. I am working my way through the podcasts right now and that info is great but still have an uneasy feeling about where to start...I am sure there are 100s of these posts every day and i am sure there is a great resource collection of things i can read, but i tend to understand things quicker and with more detail by having conversations with people.
Hi Cameron,
Every week it seems like there's someone who likes to quit their job and jump into real estate.
Having said that, I commend you that you have not quit your job yet and wants to have a plan that will enable you to quit :)
$200K/yr in passive income is definitely possible. However, it is much easier to do with apartment deals vs. houses. Now, if you want $200K/yr in active income, you can achieve that by flipping houses (fix-n-sell).
I really depends on what you want. Also, it depends too on how much time you can devote to real estate investing. If with your $200K job you have very little time left, then explore the possibility of investing passively as a private lender or investor. If, on the other hand, you can devote 10-15 hours a week, then you can become an active investor and do deals on your own.
My suggestion - if you can invest actively and if you want to go via the apartment building route (which is my expertise - I have acquired over 1,000 apartment units), is you start in your local market and start with a 4-unit apartment. You can use it to learn on a smaller scale and once you learn and hopefully earn, you can 1031 exchange that to a bigger property with bigger cashflow.
Michael,
Thanks for the great advice! So I am fully planning on spending my nights and weekends working on building this until I can replace my full time job with this. As someone who owns that many apartment units, how would you recommend finding them locally? Even 4-units here seem kinda hard to find unless I want to go into some really sketchy parts of the city for it. I really want to start with multiunits but when I look on sites like realtor or zillow I can never really find something. Thanks again for the advice/help!
Cameron,
You should network in your local REIA and ask people to refer you to the right real estate agent who specializes in 2-4 unit apartments. There are 5 different types of areas:
A - where people like you and me want to live: best schools, very low crime, very few rentals (luxury apartments, high end homes for rent to executives, etc)
B - a step below A; very good schools, low crime, some rentals, this is where the median price homes usually are (this is the BEST place to buy single family homes for long term buy-and-hold); this is also a good place to buy multifamily
C - OK schools, average crime rate, lots of rentals, THIS IS ACTUALLY THE BEST PLACE TO BUY MULTI FAMILY because the cashflow is good but not too hard to manage
D - bad schools, high crime rate, lots of rentals with problem properties (boarded up, broken windows, etc). It's hard to find professional property management to manage the property for you in these areas
F - this is the war zone: where 90% of the violent crimes in the city happens, almost every other apartment or house is boarded up. Almost impossible to find a property management company here. This is where I started. I don't recommend it. The cashflow is really, really nice but lots of headaches
So when you say "sketchy" parts of town, if you mean C areas, then you need to buy exactly in those areas because that's where the renters can afford to live. Now, if you mean D and F, then sure stay away from those and find good C areas where you can invest in. BUT regardless, you need the help of a real estate agent.
I would suggest talking to a good mortgage broker before making any changes to any of your W2 jobs that you have held for at least 1-2 years. Have the mortgage specialist review all of your #s and run by all your pay stubs, history etc first to make sure you won't have any issues when it comes to financing a deal. This is not really an issue if using cash to fund a deal, but if you plan on using the bank -- that is what I would do. Have them review your tax reports too and make sure everything is fully vetted.
Would you recommend going to a local bank for that or something that is more national? or possibly a credit union? Sorry if this seems like a typical "newbie" question but like most people on here, I dont want to waste time tracking down paths that will ultimately be the wrong place to go if I can avoid it.
I would try local credit unions, they are more responsive and easier to get ahold of. I'm not a fan of dealing with bigger banks and the rates are typically better from credit unions in general.