HerMoney Podcast Episode 295: Buying Your First Investment Property 

Over the last couple of years, if you have bought or sold property, it seemed like the normal rules had just been tossed right out the window. Home values in the United States have increased by 7.2% since 2018, according to Zillow, and home sales hit their highest levels EVER during the pandemic, as millions of Americans looked to shuffle their work-life routines in a space that could best accommodate our “new normal.” 

With those numbers in mind, this week we’re talking about buying property — specifically, buying your first investment property. We’ve heard from so many of you lately who have extra cash that you don’t necessarily want to invest in the stock market, but you do want to be able to put toward an asset that can help you secure your retirement, and that will grow over time. 

If you’re just dipping your toes into the water with an investment property, maybe you’re looking to buy something as a long-term investment for an aging parent or a college student in your life… Or maybe you’re looking to snag something simple that you can rent out monthly, or perhaps on Airbnb, VRBO, or another short-term rental site. 

Whatever you’re looking for, we’re going to focus our guide today for our listeners who are looking for something as affordable as possible — because honestly, we should ALL be looking to find a bargain, whether we live in a lower-cost area of the country and $100,000 will be enough to secure a nice property, or whether we’ve got to drop at least $500,000 in order to find something decent. So, where do we start? How do we finance a property? What are the pitfalls? And what do we need to know about a mortgage, tax deductions and more? 

Liz Faircloth, co-founder of the Real Estate InvestHER community — a community that’s now nearly 2 million women strong, with more than 40 meetups across the US and Canada, is here to help. Liz is co-founder of the DeRosa Group, a company she started in 2005 with her husband Matt, and together they own and control over 1,000 units of residential and commercial assets along the East Coast. 

Listen in as Liz and Jean discuss whether now a good time or a bad time to be investing in property.(Prices are high nationwide right now, so should people just spend the next year or so “shopping around” and familiarizing themselves with the market, and with the neighborhoods they’re considering?) 

We also talk about who should be looking into investment properties. If you’re thinking: “I could do this. I have enough money for a down… But should I go there?” Should you? We dive into how and where to find your first property, what to look for in your first property, what you should know as you search, and how much you can expect to spend. 

We also discuss what it means to “shop around” for real estate, and whether these days it can all be done online (at least initially) or if we need to be physically driving around and putting boots on the ground in order to be fully informed. We also talk about what we should look for in a property that you know you’re going to rent out, and how your criteria for a property differ depending on the tenant you want. (For example, a family vs college student, vs AirBnb guests.) 

We also talk about pitfalls and compromises, and discuss what you should NEVER compromise on, and what’s okay to compromise on, sometimes. Liz shares her insight on what most  people don’t know about real estate investing when they get into the game — but they absolutely should. She also gives us the tips or tricks she’s learned along the way that can help give you the upper hand in your market. 

In Mailbag, we tackle a question on financial gifts for a grandchild, and advise a couple with an important “Where to put my money?” question. In Thrive, how to build confidence.