All Forum Posts by: C. Buzzetta

O.K., I've never done this before.  I've walked past this home many times.  Single family, 576 sq. ft, 2 bed, no info on baths, houses to left and right look fairly well kept, near a high school and main street in city, looks like no one is living there (-tall grass, no cars in driveway).  County Assessor says bills are sent to address in a city outside of where the house is for the last 3 years.  Owners may be living with relatives-not sure.  Zillow lists estimated cost between $30-42K.  Zillow shows surrounding houses at $31-75K.  Property taxes on this house are $250-300 a year.  I have no way of knowing repair costs so I'm guessing $10-15K.  I'm going by BP website saying a newbie repair timeline is usually 12-24 months, but this is a very small house, so I can't be sure.  Utilities in this area (-electric, water, sewer) are about $100 monthly if occupied.  So do you think $10-15K would be a good offer to make?  Not sure if I would flip or rent out this house.  A multi family right down the street from this house (-nice looking 2-bed, 1-bath, with washer/dryer hook ups) rents for $500 monthly.  I wanted to start out very small and quite honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to do this yet, but I would value BP members advice.  I'm still not sure if I'm entering the right numbers on the BP analysis calculators so my only way to analyse this house is by what I can see and the information I have so far.  Not the best way to invest, I know, but I'm trying.  So thanks for any help you can give me.  Cheers!

I don't "love" real estate. I see it as a means to an end. That end is making enough to pay utilities, living expenses and to get health insurance. I could easily live on $20,000 a year. I thank all of the Bigger Pockets respondents, who took the time to give me their advice. Especially those who did not sugar coat their answers. Could a BP investor perhaps shoot a video series of RE deals (house hacking, rentals, flips, etc.) from start to finish so that newbies like me can get a little taste of what it's like. I understand real life is not scripted, but at least people could actually see the basic mechanics of what a deal is like. Am I terrified of taking action? Hell yes! I'm not young or invincible anymore. Perhaps it is true that fortune favors the bold.

I'm an older blue collar working lady.  Never went to college and really bad at math.  Been working in retail supermarkets since age 16.  I just moved to a small town in Missouri.  I'm currently unemployed, but I've been applying ever since I got here and have had 2 job offers from supermarkets in town.  I turned them both down and I can't believe it.  I am not a lazy person, in fact my previous employer of 15 years "spoke to me" frequently about staying after hours.  I did it because I wanted the job done right and didn't mind doing it, even though I wasn't getting paid and I was off the clock.  Since I moved, I've been listening to RE investment podcasts (Bigger Pockets and others) pretty much non-stop.  I've tried driving for dollars and checking out realtor.com, zillow, etc. for my area.  There are literally tons of cheap properties in this town.  Many are within walking distance of my home.  Here's the thing.  I'm not the smartest person when it comes to legal matters/documents.  I had to have our RE agent explain line by line the docu sign forms when we sold our old home and bought our new house.  I literally thought that if I did one thing wrong during the process (first time I ever sold or bought a house) they would take everything I own and put me in jail.  My goal is to make enough money to live on so that I don't have to work for the rest of my life in a job that I hate.  Something changed in me when I moved here.  I could not bear the thought of slowly dying at another lousy job.  So this is my question Bigger Pockets community:  Can stupid people like me successfully invest in RE?  I have saved money during the 40+years of my work life and do not splurge on anything.  I've never used a credit card in my life and I've never taken out a loan.  I thought this was a good thing, until I learned that no credit history is a bad thing.  It just never made sense to me to spend money that wasn't mine for stuff that I couldn't afford.  After reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" I learned to consider thinking another way.  So, it's either RE investing or going to truck driver training school at 50+ because I hear they can make pretty good money.  I want to learn RE investing, but I just don't know if I'm smart enough to do it.  I really need a mentor to help me with this, but I don't know of any where I live.  I could really do with some advice and guidance if it's out there please.  Thanks to anyone reading this.  I'm sorry it was so long.