Thanks BP! New investor in Orange County, California (Costa Mesa)

[Lonnie H.]

Hello to my fellow BP members.

About me:

My name is Lonnie Hodges. I am a new real estate investor who is learning on BP and establishing a real estate investing plan. Although I am originally from Florida ( Gainesville, Clermont, Orlando ), I relocated to Costa Mesa, California in September 2013 to work for a health system from Yuma, AZ. As an adult, I’ve also lived in Seattle, Washington where the summer months are awesome.

I wish I could remember how the real estate ‘fire’ started within me, but I can’t remember. I just remember I searched Google for the answers to my questions and noticed that the most useful links led to BiggerPockets. At first, I said to myself: “BiggerPockets; really? What are they selling?”. I continued to read the blog and forum posts and then I found the podcast; I was hooked. I knew that BP is the place I needed to be.

My goals in real estate:

I have been exploring Orange County, Los Angeles and other Los Angeles ( LA ) County cities since I arrived. My ultimate goal is to build my real estate investment firm to a level where I can be a buy and hold apartment complexes around the country, including SoCal. In addition to buy and hold, I also want invest in new apartment construction and rehabbing distressed apartments. Today, I listened to BP Podcast show 52 with Ken McElroy which provided more inspiration to build a successful real estate investment company.

I am going to start buying and holding SFR and small (2-4 units) multifamily properties. I'd love to get started locally in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties, but I will most likely start with properties in areas with lower acquisition costs. I'm also open to other investing opportunities such as flipping and wholesaling single family homes.

I look forward to becoming a contributing member of the BiggerPockets community.