“What’s the first move that I should make as a first-time real estate investor?”
My thoughts: buy a duplex that has decent cash flow, but really has strong appreciation potential.
Why?
Because that’s how you’re going to be able to scale. That’s the property that’s going to allow you to double down and keep buying.
You want a positive experience, you want to make some money, but you want to make sure it’s a chess piece you can move along to continue to purchase in the future.
When getting started you may be wondering, “how do I know if a property is worth buying or not?”
When I used to think about buying a duplex, a triplex, a fourplex, there were three things I would think about.
The first is, “can this property cash flow on a 15 year mortgage?” I would actually purchase on a 30 year mortgage, so I would have decent cash flow, but can it at least cash flow like $1 on a 15 year mortgage as a minimum threshold.
The second, “is it a property that I would actually live in?” Maybe I’m a little bit of a fancier lifestyle now, but would my previous self have lived in this property? Do I love the area? And is it in good enough shape so that I’m not constantly having to fix it up and do a bunch of improvements.
And then the third thing is, “can I get out of this property if it doesn’t work out?” Can I walk away after real estate commissions and still walk away with a few bucks?
If you meet those three criteria, and you love the property, I think you should buy it.