All Forum Posts by: Cheryl Prior

Naveen, I am certainly open to looking at areas within an hour or so drive from me in Wilmington, including Worcester and other areas out west.  If you have any suggestions for specific towns, I would appreciate it.

Aaron, I certainly would consider Worcester.  I spent some time there last year and was surprised at the great restaurants and night life there.  It was clean and vibrant.  I will check out house hacking.

Everyone here in the BP community has been great and I appreciate all of your help.

Shaun, thanks for all of your advice.  I will begin to look at areas further out, as you suggest.  Perhaps I could ask you questions about the Lowell area?  I've also considered Lynn.

Paul, what do you mean that I don't have to own a property to control it?  I have been reading The Investor's Guide you mentioned and reading blog posts.  On my to-do list is listening to the podcasts next.  I plan on attending 2 or 3 local RE meetings this month.

Dmitriy, thanks for your welcome and suggestion to find other BP members in my area.  Do you think I am a pest if I send several of them a message?  Thanks.

Arlan, I couldn't even buy a shed here to rent for $50,000.  For two families, you can easily tack on another 0 to that number, unfortunately.

Rob, thanks for your comments.  I've been looking at Malden and Medford, with the first being less expensive than the second.  I may want to branch out further from Boston, as you have.  My partner has contractor experience, so we could potentially buy places and fix them up first.

Mike, I have signed up through meetup.com to attend real estate group meetings for the next two months, in order to learn and to make contacts.  I definitely try to follow the "buy low sell high" when investing in the stock market.

Ann, thanks for your comments.  I chose the Malden/Medford area more on (what I thought) was affordability.  I work in Cambridge, would love to buy here but obviously priced out; next I looked at Somerville, also priced out there with 2 families going for a million; so then I started branching out from there, with the goal of renting to professional types who work in Boston and want to live in places with easily accessible public transportation.  I would welcome any advice on areas to look.

Also, I've tried uploading an image but was unsuccessful.  I'm thinking it is a problem with the computer I am using now; will try chrome when at home.

Thanks to you all.

I have a plan to retire in 4 years from a job that I do not enjoy all that much.  It would help boost my retirement savings and possibly shorten that length of time if I begin to invest in real estate.  Plus, when I retire, I don't plan on just sitting around, so owning and managing rental property would actually be a new type of job for me.

Investing in rental property has been on my radar for many years, but I've been hesitant to take the plunge.  I am ready now, with a lot of home equity to borrow and a partner also.

I am enjoying this site with its wealth of knowledge, and have read more than halfway through "The Ultimate beginner's guide to real estate investing."  The more I learn, the more I gain confidence, and the more excited I am feeling.

I have tons of questions; not sure if I post here or on another forum.  My first question would be, in my area, how could I apply the rules of thumb  in  evaluating a property such as the 2% rule  and the 50% rule?  I am looking at homes in the $500-600,000 range, mostly 2 families, although there may be a few 3 families.  Is there another rule to apply in my area?

Thanks in advance for your help.