1st REAL post, Hello BP Community!

[Richard O'Toole]

I posted the following post in another post, big mistake, anyway here it is redone in the Introduction thread.

Where was this community 3 years ago when I 1st started seriously thinking about Real Estate Investing. You guys are all great.

I joined this community just a few nights ago! 3 years ago I attended a seminar as I'm sure several of ya'll have. It was the Nick Vertucci Real Estate Academy (NVREA). What frauds they turned out to be. They wanted 40K to attend a 3 day seminar in California. I couldn't afford that and convinced them to sell me a lesser course on Wholesaling. Sounded reasonable to me. After attending the classes, 5 in total, POOF! They vanished! I could never get in touch with them with any follow up questions. I tried on my own, but working a full time job (approx. 60 hrs. a week), it was very difficult getting and staying motivated to pursue this venture that I had been dreaming about for years, no, decades! I soured on the idea.

I'm probably a little older than most of you, I'm 65 with no retirement options in sight (and I don't trust Social Security), due to reason's I won't get into. I'm also a Veteran, and have purchased and currently own 2 homes with that VA Loan. One in the Charlotte, NC area (Rock Hill, SC/Upstate SC), and another in the mountains of NC, where I spent 95% of my time. I must maintain the Charlotte area home for my work. What I'd really like to do is quit my job and pursue Real Estate Investing full time, ride that out till I no longer can, and make this my job/retirement. Get my kids involved and make this a legacy thing.

I have approx. $50K in savings, about $100K in equity in my Charlotte area home, and approx. $50-$60K in equity in my mountain home. I plan on reading and watching as much on this site as I possibly can, but due to my age I can't really delay on getting started. I'm interested in Wholesaling, Flipping, STR's and LTR's. Any other advice for my situation (financially and age) anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! OH, I also just saw a post about an REI Meeting in the NC/E. Tennessee area that I will be investigating. I'd love to attend something like that.