Beginner Real Estate Investor

[Nora Douglas]

 Hi everyone, I just graduated college and have been saving up  Capital, building my credit score, and learning everything I can to purchase my first piece of rental property. 

 I live in the south Florida area – if there are any experienced real estate investors in the area – I would love to learn a thing or two about best locations and interest rates with this upcoming recession,  and build a working relationship with someone.

Thanks 

[Rita Medeiros]

@Nora Douglas Come to our women’s group August 28th listed on events page ft Lauderdale.

[Nora Douglas]

Thanks, I will be there! 

[Andrew Davis]

Hey @Nora Douglas - welcome to BP! Congratulations on finishing up college and jumping right in to learning about REI. BP is THE best place to do that.

I'd highly recommend you listen to the podcasts, set up keyword alerts for topics you're interested in, check out the bookstore and start networking at local events, like the one @Rita Medeiros invited you to.

For your first purchase I'd highly recommend a house hack.

I wish you all the best!

[Nora Douglas]

Thanks, Andrew, I appreciate the advice. I listen to the podcast everyday! House hacking would be ideal for my residential situation right now. I live in a family home near my university where there is a constant stream of students. In the past, I used airbnb as a rental management platform and made some good money. Not sure if I should continue to use it because of all the maintenance and my young siblings live in the home as well. Additionally, I have a homestead exemption that would be null if I rent more than 30 days per calendar year. Would it be worth the sacrifice of dropping the homestead and renting out 3 rooms? My projected ROI would net 36K annually. Could you point me in the right direction?

[Rob B.]

Hi Nora! Welcome to BP (albeit, you've been a BP member for a month or so now, but still, welcome!). It is awesome to see you're starting on this so early (the best time to start in REI was yesterday)! Sounds like an excellent plan. I will defer to a few others on analyzing the numbers, but, once you make that decision (as for which direction you decide to take), definitely lean on the BiggerPockets community as a resource. I'll also say that it could be worth considering a shot at a software solution built for DIY landlords (1 - 15 units) to bring some automation to the rental management process (just to make things much much easier for you)! Again, best of luck on getting started and more than happy to answer any questions that you might have about online rent collection options. Welcome to the community! @Nora Douglas

[Justin Windham]

@Nora Douglas

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.

Discounts on some products and services are offered to BP members: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/pro

The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members. I like the search features: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search

Alerts can be really helpful too: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

[Nora Douglas]

Thanks, @Justin Windham and @Rob B. for the warm welcome and for pointing me to some resources.

[Rob B.]

Originally posted by @Nora Douglas:

Thanks, @Justin Windham and @Rob B. for the warm welcome and for pointing me to some resources.

Always happy to help out, Nora! And best of luck to you!