Quit Working to Focus on Real Estate

[Victor Olowu]

I'm an all or nothing type of guy, and right now I want to focus 110% of my energy on finding real estate deals, renovating them, and selling them.  However, my job makes this almost impossible since I am at work or on the way to/from it from 6am to 6pm every weekday.  This only leaves Saturdays and Sundays to look at properties, which I think really keeps me from pulling the trigger on deals before they are gone.  I have called 4 properties in a row now and been told that they are now under-contract, which is really frustrating.

All my friends tell me not to quit a high-paying job to focus on real-estate, and rather use it to fund my deals.  I just can't see how this will work when I am only able to do anything on weekends!  Any advice on juggling the two will be really appreciated.

[Brie Schmidt]

@Victor Olowu - You need to follow your passion, but you also need to make short term sacrifices for long term gain. I quit my job 8 months ago to do REI full time, and it was the best thing I ever did BUT I waited about 2 years to do it. Things to consider:

If you leave your W-2 job you will need 2 full years of tax returns before they can use that income to qualify you for a loan.  So if you are just starting flipping, can you wait to 2017 to get any kind of bank financing?  I couldn't so I worked on building my portfolio during those 2 years so when I did lose my W-2 income I already had 2 years on income on my taxes.  Even with 2 years, it is SO MUCH HARDER to get loans.  Make sure it won't hinder your strategy if you can't get bank financing. 

Why do you need to be the person doing the work?  If I had a good paying job that I could stand, I would put a good team in place that could run the flip without daily oversight.  That would be more valuable to me than anything.