New buy and hold investor from Shoreline, WA near Seattle

[Adam Frantz]

Hello All,

Thanks for letting my wife and I be a part of your community. I am Adam and I brew beer for a living. My wife and I have just done a cash out refi of our house in Shoreline, WA to get seed money to buy our first investment property. Our area is too expensive for us currently so we are looking to invest in buy and hold properties out of state. Currently we are looking all over the country but mainly where we have family members or friends who could ease our transition into REI. We are looking around in Mississippi and Alabama right now.

Our goal is to buy enough properties that we can slowly level up to larger commercial properties that can provide enough cashflow and appreciation to provide retirement income (we are each 40) in the long term and make the job insecurity of working a W2 (which we want to continue working) more secure with a side income in the short term.

[Susan Maneck]

Makes sense. Mississippi can be a little tricky place to invest,  if you're not local. Rents relative to property costs can't be beat, but you can't count on appreciation. Also, you need to watch very closely for any foundation problems. And roof leaks quickly turn into mold problems if not fixed right away.