Hi! We're Sara and Bobby

[Sara Hook]

Greetings! My name is Sara and I am a new(ish) member to Bigger Pockets and the real estate business. Here's a quick run down about myself and my spouse Bobby:

We are both full time professional musicians and educators in the Houston area, ages 32 and 36. During the pandemic Bobby got his real estate license and now works part-time for Opendoor showing houses in addition to his extensive music career. Last year we bought our first home in Cypress, and personally, it wasn't until I owned real estate did I realize how much I loved it. I enjoyed the process of searching, buying and moreover, I've abolutely love learning about home maintenance and gaining DIY experience. We have zero debt aside from the mortgage and are currently saving (investing, IRAs, SEP IRA, HSA etc.) 40-50 percent of our income. We feel we've built a solid baseline for our retirement but want to diversify our portfolio with more properties.

Our goal is to secure enough properties that we can live off the cash flow or at least supplement our retirement. Hence, the strategy we're likely to target first would be buy and hold. Aside from Bobby's RE license, as far as education goes  we both have been reading, learning, listening to podcasts (BP) for about 4 months now, and the more I learn the more it seems I still need to know. 

1. Any Houston area folks out here interested in connecting? Particularly investors buying locally

2. I'm going to join virtually on a Houston REIA meeting this Thursday, is anyone here a part of the Houston REIA or would recommend or not recommend it?

3. What's your favorite RE book? I have The Essential Handbook for Landlords by Rittenhouse on the way today and How to Invest in Real Estate by Dorkin and Turner of BP.

I've been absolutely floored by the amazing members of Bigger Pockets and how much this site has helped me so far, thank you all so much in advance for your responses!

-Sara and Bobby