All Forum Posts by: Jacob Prelle

I like both of your responses. Thank you! I just hate the idea of my rent ($1700 a month) going into someone else's bank account. I really want to be able to put a monthly payment into my mortgage. However, I get it. My goals are simple. RE Investing is what I want to do. I don't want to "work" anymore. My wife and I want to retire soon and this seems like the vehicle to get us to that point.

Great advice from all. Thank you very much.

My wife and I are at a point where we can begin. We've saved up enough to get into the game and are very excited. 

Here's the thing .. we currently are renting a place in southern California. We don't own our own home and the question is whether we should be buying our own personal home first, or should we go for the investment property first. 

Some details: if we do the investment property, it'll likely be out-of-state and triplex or higher units. We'll do the math and it'll have a property manager, and cash flow and all that ...

If we go for our personal home first, we'll likely go for FHA 3.5% down, and probably wait until we save up 40 to 50 grand for that investment purchase in the following year or 2.

So what do you think? Is it a bad idea to purchase an investment property first, then personal home?

My wife and I are looking through the internet (Redfin, Loopnet, etc) for apartment buildings that are cash flowing and are having a hard time finding any. I heard through a BP podcast and from other investors that Loopnet and other similar sites are the "bottom of the barrel" when it comes to RE finds. 

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about getting notified of good deals or have had any experience another away?

Thank you!

We can share any information we come across too. It's a scary decision to make, but I think what's important is that we do the research and take a leap of faith. Goal being - we've set up the right team and know we've done our best to limit our chance of failure.

Great! Thank you, neighbor!!

That's great advice. Thank you, sir. 

My wife and I live in Southern California and are beginning to browse the internet to gain familiarity with the market and gauge our options. We know there is great potential in purchasing a duplex (or more units) on FHA, living in one unit and renting out the rest. But if you know the home prices in So Cal, you'll know it's a difficult plan to execute there. We also can't leave - our jobs, family, etc. it's not an option.

Our other option is to purchase outside Cali and hope for the best. I know we'll do our homework, but there's a limit to how much research that can be done vs the ground-truthing it takes to know your market. 

Does anyone have advice, or cautionary tales? 

Thank you!

Thanks for the great links!  I believe it was your comment on another article that caused us to consider turnkeys as a possible option.