DAY-ONE Landlords on FIRE

The paralysis of analysis is a real blocker when it comes to real estate investing.  Keep in mind:  U.S. retirees have been using "passive" income from rental properties to fund their retirements FOR DECADES. The #1 reason it works is because the laws are written to favor small-business owner landlords - Federal tax codes, and many local laws favor landlords. That's not ALWAYS the case - it's a balance, and in some jurisdictions the balance is tipping back toward the tenant with stronger tenancy laws.  If you pick an area with laws that tend to favor the landlord, BUT... do not abuse the laws, and continue to treat tenants like customers (or like "employees"), you tend to have better results and fewer problems.

A frustration for me with BiggerPockets has been that many requests for advice come from what I call DAY-ONE REAL ESTATE INVESTORS. They're NEW to REI, and may not have even purchased a single-family home.  The DAY-ONE REI is characterized by having LOTS of questions. 

My one regret from BiggerPockets is that most of the advice here comes from professionals who are years beyond their first income producing rental property, and (in my case) DECADES from the time they stepped out on the financial ledge, and took out a mortgage on a SFH.  That first mortgage can be a SCARY THING... I know it was for me.  Twenty five years ago, $180,000 was more than 10 years net income for me. Signing a mortgage for that amount was very intimidating.

The same is true for taking out a corporate mortgage on a rental property, and hoping the rents continue to cover the mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc.  I can go on record: it DOES WORK, and my business has generated CASH (while losing money on paper - Thank you depreciation!) and continued to work as a viable business since 'DAY-ONE'.

New investors always ask what to read, what steps to take, etc.  I LOVE BiggerPockets - it's a great place to read, and learn about becoming a Real Estate Investor (REI). Here we try to 'pay it forward', and help other investors who are just starting out by paying back the knowledge we've gleaned from reading in these pages to other investors. Most of the answers to the basic questions you're asking have already been answered here numerous times. Find many answers in Bigger Pockets "GUIDES".

There are plenty of free guides here on Bigger Pockets - start with
"The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Investing" . If you haven't already read it, click that link, and download it NOW!

And MORE in the Bigger Pockets 'Guides' section https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

I always recommend new investors start by reading long-form books on REI.  Books like "Landlording on Autopilot" by Mike Butler, or "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller.  The deep-dive content one can gain from reading long-form books is unique, whether those books are in physical, or electronic format.

Finally... I also recommend new investors ACT.  Purchase a property, and get-your-feet-wet.  Nothing teaches better than experience.  No RE investors I've spoken too wish they'd waited, and started investing later.  Real Estate values tend to increase year over year. Wouldn't you rather have some portion of those increases in YOUR POCKET, or on YOUR BALANCE SHEET?  

Get your Feet Wet, and Welcome to Landlording (and hopefully you're also on FIRE)

As always... All The Best!