All Forum Posts by: Kelechi Ukonu Nwankwoala

Welcome to BP and congrats on taking some initial steps towards investing- you won't regret it!

The only concrete answer I have for you is that waiting is NEVER a good plan to improve your life in any way, financial or other. Saving money, while necessary to a point, is a form of that. Keep learning and growing, but the goal is to be prepared to act when opportunity is presented, and- even more importantly, recognizing opportunity when it does come your way. 

I see you are in Westchester- I just googled and it's an expensive area, so I understand why you are looking out of state, but you might reverse engineer your question- Why are you  in Westchester? I don't know you, your job, your family or your situation, but I talk to new investors all of the time who say they can't move down the road or across the street becuase they have a toddler or they have a job, etc. People move all of the time, it's possible. 

I say this because house hacking is THE BEST way to start a portfolio and jump start your financial life. Using an FHA loan to buy a MFH is a life hack that I wish I would have known about when I was younger, I would have been able to quit my job 10 years earlier than I did. There are plenty of inexpensive markets in New York state and all over the northeast as well. I would seriously consider that option and do some hard things for a few years so that I could end up free much, much earlier.

That being said- you could always buy a rental in the midwest by the end of the year with your savings- it won't perform as well as a house hack and it won't jump start your portfolio in the same way, but it would be better than nothing, assuming you buy right and in the right area. 

Either way- best of luck to you!

I suspect you already know the answer.

YouTube "experts" will tell you to borrow money and scale to 50 rentals in four months. Reality, and wisdom, will tell you to save up and buy right.

While saving, spend the time educating yourself on how to analyze properties, looking for markets, practicing. I also recommend learning about how to manage a property well, something most Landlords never do. Learn the laws, develop plans for different problems Landlords face, and you'll hit the ground running.