Let’s see how we may be able to help each other

[Ryan Burnham]

I’ll give the details of what I’m looking for in case you don’t care to hear my backstory. I’m looking to stop making excuses and want to start exposing myself to real estate in some manner to better understand it, make some extra money while doing so, and build some connections that will be mutually beneficial over time as I gain more experience. 

I’m able and willing to carve out between 5-10 hours per week, hopefully more but I’m committing to that. Staring out with 45-90 mins at least 5 days a week totaling at least 5 hours every week. Let me know how:

1. I may be of help to you by using this time to mutually benefit both of us. I know this may or may not be structured. I’d love to hear ideas as to how I can bring value to you or anyone. 

Or

2. What you would do if you were looking to, using very little to no money (and not using a traditional lender) to start making some extra money, but more importantly improve myself for the long game. The long game for me plans to be house-hacking and long-term BRRRR rentals.

I’ll listen to any proposals, I just want to at least get my feet wet. I’ll share some details of my situation below, I know it is a lot of rambling, it is my best attempt at providing context. I apologize if it fails to effectively do so. 

I am someone who does not have much income to currently buy a house to house hack and/or BRRRR, which is ideally what I'd be doing now. I do have about 75k invested in a managed stock market Charles Schwab account that was the result of a life insurance payout from my sister dying while in the Army in 2018. I also have 50k very likely coming my way in a few years that my parents are giving me when they sell their house as a way to give me back some of the life insurance money I split between family members even though I legally had the right to all the money being her next of kin (it was undoubtedly the right thing to do).

I have been in school the last 5 years working low-paying jobs while attending school (sometimes full-time, sometimes part-time).  I recently decided to leave college as I didn’t want to use my investment money to pay for it now that I have the money (ironic how that works), the mediocre pay I would have had after school, and because I was basically just trying to justify staying in school because of sunk-cost fallacy. I’ll probably finish my bachelor’s one day to have something else in my toolbox if needed, but the opportunity cost is too great for now.

I found a free 20 week vocational program to start a career as an electrician while trying to get into the local electrical union. I’m nearing the end of the program (2 weeks left), and am hoping to get hired with one if the smaller companies (until I likely go union in the summer). I haven’t had any W2 job since June, which wasn’t much in the first place as I was a para at a high school bringing home a whopping $1,000/ month for take home. I had a side hustle teaching English online to Chinese kids that turned into my main income since, it was making me about $1,500 monthly and was able to get by with also donating plasma for $400ish monthly (which I’m doing as I type). As I start working as an electrician, I will be no longer be teaching English online because it’ll no longer work with my schedule. 

I’ll be making about $17/hr or so if I get in with a non union shop, and will probably be in the union this summer starting around $20/hr ($45/hr in 5 years..plus tons of great benefits starting out). I hope to be in a position to feel comfortable using some of my life insurance money into some form of a house hack in a year or 2, but the sooner the better.

Basically, I have no stable income to buy a house and start investing how I want to. This is going to be changing shortly, although I won’t make a lot at first, it should be adequate and will increase at a fairly rapid rate. I don’t want to use this as an excuse to not do anything right now. I am aware of some options from listening to the podcast, just want to hear some suggestions, proposals, etc. so that I can be more strategic in how I spend my time gaining real estate exposure. I’m not a shy person and can handle rejection, so I at least have that going for me.

If you have any advice or suggestions, I appreciate it.

Thank you,

Ryan Burnham