Finally in it!

[William Strickland]

Hi BP community,

Long story short, I have had the vision in my mind for a long time that I would get into real estate and that has grown to be a fairly lofty goal with how big it has gotten. It took getting laid off from my W2 last year to finally give me the kick in the butt to get started. My plan to get started was to get into the industry on the side until I can switch to a full time focus and involvement in companies within the REI realm. With circumstances coming up that required me to move back up to Michigan from Arizona I am now pursuing to be licensed in both states (already licensed in AZ). I chose to become an agent to get exposure to the market, gain access to the tools, and honestly I love looking at houses and want to be able to serve others by ensuring they are taken care of when looking to make one of the largest commitments of their lives. Whether it is correct or not, I see being an agent as a way to get a greater return on my time than that of pursuing the top of a W2 role in the corporate world.

With all that, I finally have purchased my first investment property and I am doing a lot of the work myself to save as much of my capital as possible in hopes of getting into the next property. I don't have any questions or requests other than I would love to connect with anyone in the Oakland County, Michigan area or Maricopa County area in Arizona. I love AZ and the playground of a state it is and plan on having some base there in a couple years. I hope to meet more of you on here and best of luck to all the other newbs out there.

Will

[William Strickland]

Hey Scott,

I wish I could give some creative answer, but as usual I may have left out some info. I do have a W2 right now which enabled me to qualify for a basic conventional loan. I am currently planning on staying in my W2 for the next few years until I can break free fully. For the loan we were going for a DSCR loan but thankfully we were able to pivot at the last minute and get into a conventional loan with it identified as an investment property which lowered the rate. I used proceeds from the sale of my primary in Phoenix to fund this first purchase. With luck and not much run over, I will have some capital left over for the next property or another investment, which ever one makes the most sense. My strategy is going to be to play it conservative and have plenty of equity in properties intially until I have a decent portfolio where then I can dedicate more time to play in the creative finance realm. I feel I need more knowledge before that happens though.

Will