Most people rush in with no roadmap.Since you’re a first-time buyer and plan to live in one unit, you’re in the perfect position to use house-hacking to build wealth safely.

Get really good at running flip numbers (doesn't have to be perfect, just conservative + buffers) 5.

However, running out of capital to invest is not the perfect argument it's crafted to be since the reason we all went into real estate as an asset class to begin with was that we could always partner with banks to fund our deals.The magic of only coming up with a fraction of the cost ensures you are always going into any deal with a partner, except the bank is always the passive partner that is never going to need a K-1 or an offering memorandum.

Besides doing any RentReady Repairs, the biggest challenge with quick turns is the existing tenant(s).Every owner looks at the "perfect" Class A example (only light cleaning & touchups, tenant cooperates with showings) and wants it applied to EVERY scenario.- Less likely to happen on Class B rentals and rarely on Class C or D!

Since you’re new, focus first on learning how to analyze deals and understand what a solid investment looks like—Brandon Turner’s The Book on Rental Property Investing and David Greene’s Long-Distance Real Estate Investing are great places to start, and both align perfectly with what’s working in markets like Memphis right now.

If you do buy all cash, keep rehab light, build a CapEx reserve, and have a clear exit or refi plan; if the deal only pencils with perfect rent and zero surprises, keep shopping.

Columbus, Ohio is a perfect example—population and job growth are strong, major companies like Intel, Amazon, Google, Honda, and Facebook are expanding here, and you can still find rentals in the $120–180K range that hit the 1% rule and produce positive cash flow immediately.

The trap with the 2018-2023 period of time is, it was a perfect storm for the STR investment class.

I haven't found a property yet because I am perfecting my strategy with them, but there have been a lot of potential ones.

I’m not perfect, but I’m hungry to keep learning, improving, and building sustainable success.Right now, my biggest limitation is capital.