Newbie Working towards building financial freedom through REI

[Mike Loew]

Hey everyone. I discovered BP a few weeks ago and since have started reading a few of Brandon's books on REI. I just wanted to take the time to introduce myself and let everyone know my desires and hopefully get some advice on where to start. I'm a practicing dentist looking to start building my financial freedom through cash flowing investments such as rentals, lending and syndications. I have pretty much ruled out wholesaling and flipping as I would not likely have the time involved in being successful in these fields while still working full time. I have looked into some turnkey sites such as Memphis Invest and RP Capital. Both seem like good companies but was hoping someone could give some more info on them for me. I have also came across a group called Freedom Founders which is all about trying to reach financial freedom for professionals through real estate but is very costly in my opinion. I know many say avoid these guru type clubs as most of the info can be obtained right here on BP. Has anybody used them or have any advice on these types of programs? I think it has an annual fee of $25k which seems to me to be better used in REI (even turnkey properties) instead of just losing it. I truly believe REI is the best path to financial freedom and I don't trust the stock market and like to have tangible assets. I realize the road ahead will have challenges but nothing that I will not be able to overcome thanks to the support of all of you. Thanks in advance for any input/thoughts. I'm excited to begin my RE journey.

[Jonathan Bombaci]

Hi Mike, it ultimately depends on your goals. If your goal is passive real estate investing then investing with shared platforms or syndication are a great way to go but the returns will be limited and you won't learn as much as if you bought the property yourself and figured out how best to manage it. The hardest part in real estate is finding the deals. When you invest with a shared platform or syndication that is done for you but you'll miss out on the knowledge you'd gain by trying to find it yourself. In addition you may invest $100k and get a very small minority stake in a small syndication or use that same $100k to buy 100% of a $400-$500k investment property where the returns should easily outpace the 8-10% preferred returns on as a Limited Partner of a syndication. 

In my opinion, and this is just an opinion, syndication's are great, I may be setting one up myself in the not to distant future. But you should cut your teeth on an easy investment property yourself first. Use that as your tuition fee to learn more about real estate than you could ever retain from the books or from the monthly/quarterly reporting that comes from the syndication. Then you can use that first hand knowledge to decide if you want to invest in a passive platform or syndication or go at it yourself. 

I hope this helps and best of luck! Real estate is the path I used to reach FI, its very attainable and happens in less time than you think!