Advice needed: 21yr old starting off

[Ryan Auber]

Hello everyone from BiggerPockets,

Since this is my first post, I'd like to give you a little background of myself.  I am 21 years old, living in Ohio, looking to get into real estate as young as possible.  I am on my last semester of school until I get my associates degree in Automation Engineering.  I also have a job lined up after school where I will be making 70k a year(salary without tax) this upcoming spring.  I have been heavily researching and listening to podcasts while I work my part-time job and also when I make my drive to school.  My goal as a real estate investor is to eventually quit my full-time job and earn a passive income through real estate.  Anyways, I'm here to get any advice from experienced people.  As I am a newbie to real estate.. I have several questions hoping the BP community could lead me into the correct direction.

Since I am securing a pretty well paying job with zero debt, I am curious on how I should go about purchasing a rental property. I want to focus on a single family home a first and try the BRRR strategy, Im not sure if I should wait and save up to buy my first property in cash, or to finance a property with 10% down on a 30 year loan and buy multiple. Like I said above, I want to replace my income with real estate, I am just trying to find the best path to go about this and the fastest way to add properties into my portfolio.

[Jeremy Paschedag]

The suggestions above are good.  House hacking gets you a property and starts building equity and landlord experience. 

I'd also recommend investing in your company's 401k program up to what they match (usually between 3-6% of your annual salary).  This may not be popular in BP land, but it gives you a 50% contribution match.