REI while renting an apartment?

[Jordan B.]

Hello Everybody,

Here is my situation,

I am very eager to jump into REI however I just signed a 15 month rental lease with my girlfriend. Do you think it is a good idea to try and pursue long term buy and hold rental properties while still paying $600/month in rent? Or would it be wise to wait until the lease is up and have my next residence be a house hack so I will not have the added stress of having a fixed rental payment on top of a mortgage payment etc. ?

I am 22 years old with about 30k in savings. I am currently looking to invest in the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio market (where I currently live).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Jordan

[Joshua Biondi]

Jordan Bochner if I were you I would start now. I currently live in Columbus, Ohio and am renting an apartment for $620 a month. With utilities the total cost $700, which my girlfriend and I split. My total out of pocket, monthly, is about $350. I own a duplex, which I was planning on house hacking, but my tenants pay $650 on each side and they cover utilities. It ended up making more sense for me to continue renting at the moment. One side of the duplex covers the entire mortgage, taxes, insurance, with a little bit left over. If you have $30,000 in savings you're in a great position to get started. I would start now to start building equity, establish a relationship with a lender, and start seeing some cash flow. There's no time like the present. However, I'm no expert yet, this is just my humble opinion. Best of luck!