Introduction and Advice

[Tammy Graham]

Hello...I have been reading everything i can get my hands on here but this is my first official post.  I am looking for some general advice about financing so that i don't make a mistake right out of the gate.  I actually have done several different real estate deals through the years, my first being a 3 unit rental that i bought in the mid 90's. In 2008 I lost my son in an auto accident ( and in 2006 i lost my nephew in another auto accident) and i really slowed down my investment activities.  Recently, I have made a commitment to get myself back on track and start growing my portfolio again.  However, my son's death, and the subsequent divorce (and mental shut down) really hurt my credit.  I have been working hard to clean things up but i had my head in the sand for a good many years so it will take a little while to get things back up to my pre-2008 credit score of over 800.  My score is hovering around 655 currently.  I have no mortgage on the 3 unit building (roughly valued at $70,000, and a single family home (roughly valued at $60,000).  I owe 86,000 on my home which is valued around $175,000 and i co own a commercial rental we owe $68,000 on and it is valued around $150,000.  I also co own a mobile home on a piece of lake property valued around $40000 (free and clear).  I have flipped a couple houses, one of which i purchased for $6000 and completely gutted and rebuilt it.  I also have done many renovations in units i have owned over the years.  I enjoy every detail of fixing and flipping very much, from rethinking the layout to choosing the color scheme.  I have always done as much as i can myself (i love doing tile work and painting).  I am eager to do a few fix and flips but i am most interested in multi unit rental.  I feel..frozen with fear at my less than perfect credit, even though i know i have a nice advantage with so much equity just sitting there untapped.  To give even more details about myself, i have an associates degree in business admin, and a bachelors and Masters in accounting.  I teach accounting at the college level.  I have a teaching license to teach business in middle and high school charter schools (but i havent actually taught at this level yet)  I am an Enrolled Agent and work seasonally for Intuit in their Turbo Tax division.  I also own my own tax practice and handle tax resolution cases for Tax Defense Network. If that doesnt keep me busy enough, i own a small town liquor store.  In the past, i enjoyed putting deals together...figuring out a way to make it work.  I owned a restaurant at one point, and traded it for a single family home that i flipped.  I have put together several deals simply by asking the seller to take a second mortgage for 20% of the purchase price...that was back when my credit was strong and i had established bank relationships.  I am asking for advice on how to start back into the real estate business, with my first goal to be to acquire more multi/single family rentals to buy and hold for cash flow, and also to fix and flip some homes so i can build up some cash reserves and pay off my student loans.  

Thanks for listening and for all of your advice!

Tammy