When’s the Right Time to Start Investing? (Age, Money, Lifestyle)

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

BiggerPockets

Education, Business, Investing

4.8 • 16.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When is the right time to invest in real estate? We’ve all asked ourselves this, and if you’ve been thinking about buying rentals, you probably have, too. Whether you’re 20 or 50, have a little money or a lot, that first real estate deal can seem so...scary. You’ve never done this before, and things can (and will) go wrong, so how do you know you’re ready? Have you read enough books, saved enough for emergencies, or looked at enough houses? We’ve got three investors who all started in different positions to help get you an answer. Dave started investing right after college when he was waiting tables and had barely any money in the bank. Henry began to invest well into his working career, but with a family to take care of in the near future, he had to invest differently. On the other hand, Jonathan Greene was born into real estate, with an investor father who taught him the ropes from childhood. Each expert started from a different place, but they all agree on when it makes sense to invest. How much money do you need to make? How much free time should you set aside? What should your bank account look like? Do you need to know how to renovate and repair? Each investor will share where they think you should be to successfully invest in real estate. Good news—you might already be there! In This Episode We Cover The right age to invest in real estate (and can you ever be too young/old?) How much money you should have in case your first deal goes wrong Growing your confidence to buy and how many houses you should view before bidding The time it takes to invest in real estate on the side (do you have the schedule for it?) Financial signs that you’re NOT ready to buy a rental (and how to fix your finances) Is it too late to invest with high home prices and interest rates? And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1124 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When is the right time to start investing in real estate?
0:03.5	Are you too young?
0:04.6	Are you too old?
0:05.6	Do you have enough money?
0:06.7	Did you already miss the market timing and all the good deals are gone?
0:10.5	I totally get it.
0:11.5	Investing in a rental property is a huge decision for your financial future, but also for your
0:16.1	lifestyle.
0:17.1	You want to make sure you're in the right place, not just from a financial perspective,
0:21.1	but for all those other factors in your life as well. Today, we're talking about this with two
0:26.8	other expert investors. What's up, everyone? I'm Dave Meyer, head of real estate investing
0:36.4	at Bigger Pockets, and I've been
0:38.0	buying rental properties for more than 15 years. Today on the show, we're talking about when
0:43.1	to invest in real estate. We're going to get into when is the best age to start. When you have
0:48.7	enough money in the bank to take down your first property, how your lifestyle at different points
0:54.0	might affect whether you
0:55.4	want to start investing, and if there are times in the economic cycle that are better to
1:01.0	dive in and whether or not there's times that you should probably hold out. So for this conversation,
1:06.8	I've brought in two great investors who have wrestled with all of these questions themselves.
1:12.7	We've got Henry Washington here.
1:14.5	Hey, what's up, buddy? Glad to be here. Thank you.
1:16.5	And we also have Jonathan Green, who's been on the show several times. He's an agent and investor based in New Jersey.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BiggerPockets, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BiggerPockets and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.