I’m in my young 20’s but I’ve ALWAYS been interested in real estate investment. In particular, I’m interested in development… but I feel a good way to get started is through investment in rental properties. I’d like to eventually have a small portfolio of income producing properties and then move in to development of properties.
I’ve read a few books and such, and I’d like to get started by buying a duplex. Unfortunately, I live in South Florida (argh). I’m not opposed to the idea of buying somewhere a couple of hours away and renting through a property manager as long as I can eek out a small income every month while paying down the property’s mortgage.
Where should I start? How do you feel about using a property management company so you don’t need to physically chase the rent every month?
you can start here. i’m surprised there isn’t a sticky about this yet. if you do a search, i’m sure you’ll have an abundance of this exact question with the information you seek.
rm36, Welcome. I think the best way to get started is from education. You can start for free by scanning the posts and doing a search. You can learn a lot. You can then read books at your local bookstore. There are many, but I can recommend a few.
“The Millionare Real Estate Investor”, by Gary Keller.
2.“One Minute to Rental Property Riches”, by Mike Rossi (aka Propertymanager)
“The ABC’s of Real Estate Investing” by Ken McKelroy.
“The Millionare Next Door”
These books range from $20 - $50 each. They’re well worth the info you get from them. I think you should also look for the post by “fdjake” that’s titled something like “Advice for Newbies but only 1 out 100 will follow it”.
You can also go on ebay and purchase the Carleton Sheets program. Be sure to get the most updated one with the DVD’s and the “toolkit”. It should be about $60.
While your working on your education, you should work on getting your financial house in order. Work on improving your credit score (if needed), saving as much as you can for personal and investing reserves. I think that should keep you busy for a while :biggrin. Good luck!
