Sure wish I knew about this 20 years ago!

[Jason Washam]

For starters, I am almost 44 with a 10, 8, 7, 6 mo old and a newly built house in the last year. My wife took off work to stay home with the baby so we have been living on one income, which has made things tight and even dipped way into our savings. My Dad was always an Entrepreneur at heart but never mustered up the strength to take a chance. He worked to provide for the family and even though he hated what he did, he did it for us. I have found myself doing exactly what he did. He passed away due to Alzheimer's a little over 3 years ago and I made up my mind then that I would not continue to hesitate like he did. I want to leave something for my kids. I want a better life for them and to be able to have more time for all of them. I want them to be able to work with me as the grow so they can learn these processes as well. It seems I started everything later in life and if I have to be mid 40's to start REI then so be it.

I think I am similar to most newbies that get on here. My DTI is too high and I don't have a lot of money to play with right now for a down payment. I live just outside of a 4 college town that has lots of multifamily properties and single-family units that are screaming for BRRRR. It is frustrating reading all of the content on BP, reading Brandon's book and listening to all the podcasts and being mentally ready to go (with still a lot of self doubt!) but not having the financial stability yet. My wife is so supportive as well. She and I have similar tastes and she sees the vision of a remodel well and knows how to cut costs to make a property look nice.

With all of that said, I appreciate this site and the content it contains. I am continually growing and learning (recently earned my MBA) and will continue to do so on the REI side of things. I know there is no magic money tree that will allow me to get my first property so I will just have to continue to work and try and save until I can do something. With 4 kids, a mortgage, 2 vehicles and some student loan debt it will be more of a challenge but I plan to make my REI mark here in Central Arkansas for my family's future!