First time investor, how should I engage in real estate?
Hello everyone, my name is Ivan and I am new to real estate investment. This post is to say hi to everyone and hope to get some advise for investment. Recently I have a thought of buying a rental investment property to achieve financial freedom. Instead of leaving the money in the bank, why not use the money in a better way? So I picked up the book "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner. (It is a very good read) I just finished reading and had some idea how rental property investment works.
But when it comes to really do my own analysis on my local market, I feel like I am overwhelmed. I am living in New York, and the housing price is very high. Of course that I will not buy a rental house in Manhattan area, even if I want to, I don't have the money. So I check the pricing in nearby areas like Staten Island or Bayonne NJ. The price for a single family is around 500K to 600K in Staten Island (In some good neighborhoods). Bayonne NJ has lower price, but still, a house would cost around 300K to 400K. Up to this point, the fear of failure emerges in my head. What if I use all my saving to purchase a rental property but thing doesn't go in the right direction? For example, I buy bad deal but I thought it is a good deal. I buy a good deal but no one wants to rent it. It is rented but it doesn't enough to cover the mortgage after the expenses. The fear of losing all my saving money is very strong.
Can anyone give me some advise like how you overcome the fear when you made your first purchase? And how did you approach your first deal to make sure the number works out.
I wish everyone the best of luck in your investment.