Getting Started in Real Estate Investing

Today we are talking about getting started in real estate investing. Thank you so much for checking out the Real Estate Today podcast.

I’m Bob Nelson, Real Estate Investment Broker with Pacwest Real Estate Investments. Marsha is unable to join me today so I’m going to be dealing with my favorite topic, investment property, cash flow properties, properties that are owned so that they can be rented to another entity that would pay you rent that you would use in part to maintain the property, pay the property taxes, insurance, management, maintenance and repair, and make the mortgage payment. So how do I get started? Now, let’s think in terms of getting started.

For those of you that are quite experienced and you’ve got a large portfolio, I’d be willing to bet that you’ve got a next generation son or daughter, or even potentially grandson, granddaughter, that aren’t in that position. At that particular point, it’s your responsible to inform them how they should act so that they can get into a positive cash flow situation with growing equity that would allow them a comfortable retirement when they decide to become independent of their vocational source of income.

Again, what’s a great way to start? That would be, in my opinion, buying a house, buying a house or a duplex. You’ll get owner-occupied interest rates and terms. As you potentially outgrow that property, yeah, you could sell it and take the cash and move forward into the next one or simply keep it. That becomes your first rental property as you move forward and do your next maneuver, et cetera. So it’s not that difficult to start. A number of people … “Let’s sell and get a more expensive house,” and you keep getting bigger and bigger houses to a point where you have to say to yourself “My gosh, I now have a 4,000 square foot house. It is my spouse or my partner and I living in this thing. Each of us has 2,000 square feet.” It’s like wait, what are you doing?

There may be another way of taking that. Downsize, use the equity proceed to go into a rental property where you’ve got a number of tenants that are potentially paying you rent and making the mortgage payment for you and causing your equity to grow even further. Again, it’s a process of understanding where you’re trying to go and coming up with a game plan that makes that work. I do that sort of thing professionally. Give me a call if you’d like. I’m Bob Nelson, Real Estate Investment Broker with Pacwest Real Estate Investments.

Join Bob Nelson and Marcia Edwards Eugene, Oregon, real estate experts daily at 5:30 on KPNW for the “Real Estate Today ” radio show.