Newbie from Papillion, Nebraska

[Craig Stasnbury]

My name is Craig Stansbury and I live in Papillion, Nebraska. I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Directly after high school I enlisted in the Marine Corps with a job in IT. I married my high school sweet hart in 2009 and after 5 years of honerable service I decided to move on to my next chapter. I moved to the Omaha area and I am currently working as a network engineer.

I want to invest in buy and hold properties in the Omaha Metro. I have been listening to the BP podcasts and I can not believe how much information is out there! Before listening to the podcasts I wanted to focus on only single family homes for my first "real" property but now I am also open to duplexes as well as Tri. I put quotations around real because I own a property in Cedar Rapids. This was the house that I grew up in, and after I had moved out, my mom (who still lives there) was being foreclosed on. My sister and I were able to buy the property and reduce the monthly payments by ⅓. My mom still lives there, and is able to cover the PITI. We don't ask for any more. So I know technically I am losing money on this property, and for right now I am okay with this. We have been doing this since Jan 2010 and so far no major repairs. I know they will eventually come.

Additionally, my wife and I just purchased our primary residence just before thanksgiving (used VA financing). My wife is not as enthusiastic about real estate investment as I am. She is not against it, more just concerned because all she has seen as an example of Real Estate is the property in Cedar Rapids where in the beginning there were late payments, payments that were short, and sometimes no payments at all. But since we were family my sister and I just covered the payment for that month.

Ok, so the lengthy intro was to provide context. I'm wanting to introduce myself but also ask for help on where to start. I want to purchase my next rental by the end of 2017. However, after listening to the first 37 podcasts, plus numbers 198, 199 and 200 I think I may not be aggressive enough. I was thinking of getting my Real Estate license to have access to the MLS, but also to sell a few properties as an agent and use the commission as a down payment for a property. I plan on doing conventional financing for my first few properties.

Before listening to the podcasts, I truly did think that cash flow was just rent minus PITI. Now I know I need to factor in vacancies, repairs, property management (even though I plan on managing the properties for the near - medium term). Am I missing anything else? Is there a good percentage I should use to calculate these numbers (i.e. 10% of total rent should be allocated for repairs)? I saw on another member's Omaha intro there is a REIA that meets in Omaha on the third Monday of the month. Is this open to anyone or is it by invite only? What percentage should I save for a down payment? I know that the more I use for a down payment the better the property will cash flow, but I also want to get into my first property as soon as possible.

Alright, I think that is enough for now. It is nice to meet everyone!

Craig