Newbie Investor Looking To Network & Learn

[Alec Esenther]

Hello Everyone, I am currently based in Oconomowoc WI and I plan to invest in Oconomowoc, Watertown, and the surrounding areas. This year (hopefully), I plan to purchase a single family home and turn it into a duplex, in which I will house hack! The first time I became interested in real estate investing was when I worked for a real estate investor as a carpenter/laborer while attending college.

After becoming an avid listener to the BiggerPockets podcast and reading "Rich Dad Poor Dad, I realized acquiring assets and diversifying income sources is the key to financial freedom. I'm currently working as an independent insurance agent and saving up as much as possible for my down payment. I'm looking to connect with like minded people and I'm eager to soak up as much knowledge as possible!

[Julien Jeannot]

Welcome!

I love the strategy! Forcing equity and increasing cash flow. Duplexes hold a fond place in my heart, that's how I got started.

[Julio Gonzalez]

Hi Alec, glad to have you on the forums! 

[Ash Hegde]

Welcome Alec, check out the meetups section under "build your team" at the top of the page. I think that's your best bet for networking and connecting with folks in your area.  

[David Bilandzija]

@Alec Esenther Real Estate Meetups are great place to build your knowledge base while expanding your network.  Here's a link to meetup in Milwaukee later today.  Good luck.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

[Noah Bacon]

Hey Alec! Welcome to BiggerPockets and thanks for joining!

Here are some tips for networking and making the most of your account.

1) I'd fill out your profile fully before you do anything else! As that will at least help folks that you reach out to know that you are a real person, with a picture and professional bio. Particularly be sure to include your goals for real estate investing so that folks can help you.

2) Go to the Search bar, and look for some local members in your area! Reach out to a few of the folks, perhaps those with hundreds or thousands of posts in this forum, and connect. You can do that here.

3) Check out some of the local meetups that you can find in this forum! There are so many so be sure to filter by your location.

4) Review this comprehensive 64 page deck on the state of the 2023 housing market (in your resource page as a member of BiggerPockets!) for real estate investors put together by Dave Meyer and available for all BiggerPockets members.

5) Consider meeting with a few agents in your area even if you are just getting started! An investor friendly agent can do all sorts of helpful things, like setting you up with a search for properties or connecting you with folks who have recently done deals like the ones you want to do.

6) Consider analyzing a deal or two in your local market, just for practice, with a free use of our Rental Property Calculator (or other calculators).

Hope this helps! Please reach out with any questions you may have!

[Alec Esenther]

Quote from @Julien Jeannot:

Welcome!

I love the strategy! Forcing equity and increasing cash flow. Duplexes hold a fond place in my heart, that's how I got started.

 Thank you Julien! Excited to get started

[Alec Esenther]

Quote from @Julio Gonzalez:

Hi Alec, glad to have you on the forums! 

 Thank you for the warm welcome!

[Alec Esenther]

Quote from @Ash Hegde:

Welcome Alec, check out the meetups section under "build your team" at the top of the page. I think that's your best bet for networking and connecting with folks in your area.  

 I appreciate the tip! I'll definitely utilize that feature

[Lawrence Briggs]

Welcome to the BiggerPockets community, @Alec Esenther! With you having a background in insurance, that will be extremely helpful during your real estate journey! Have you started submitted offers yet for that single family property?

[Kia Pourmodheji]

Welcome!

I'm new to the community as well. While I'm based out of LA, I spent the majority of my life in the Northshore & Greater Milwaukee area. I eventually plan to own real estate in the Midwest.

It'd be great to connect with you and learn from your experience so far.

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

Welcome to BP community @Alec Esenther ! It is a great place to meet new friends and learn about various aspects of real estate and more.

Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/a...

I hope BP helps you achieve your goals!

[Jason Roman]

Hi Alec and welcome to BP! Lots of great people on here to learn from with both successes and “opportunities for improvement.” My team does a lot of business in Ocon and Watertown and love helping our clients build their portfolios. Happy to answer any questions you may have!

[Zach Edelman]

Welcome to BP! A lot of good BRRRR opportunities in Milwaukee!!!

[Brock Mogensen]

Welcome to BP and great to connect with another local investor! We are hosting a networking event later this summer that could be a great opportunity to connect with more local investors. I'll DM you the details.

[Alec Esenther]

Quote from @Lawrence Briggs:

Welcome to the BiggerPockets community, @Alec Esenther! With you having a background in insurance, that will be extremely helpful during your real estate journey! Have you started submitted offers yet for that single family property?

 Thank you Lawrence! And unfortunately not yet. There's been a few properties I thought had a lot of potential but currently I feel like I don't have enough saved
and I won't have the time to complete the renovations in a timely manner. I'm currently going into my 2nd year as an independent agent. I hit my quota my first year by working long days, but my book of business won't produce sufficient income until (at the earliest) the end of my 2nd year. I'd like to start investing in real estate to create another income source and to build equity, but I don't wish to plant that seed if it's not the right season. 

[Lawrence Briggs]

Quote from @Alec Esenther:

Quote from @Lawrence Briggs:

Welcome to the BiggerPockets community, @Alec Esenther! With you having a background in insurance, that will be extremely helpful during your real estate journey! Have you started submitted offers yet for that single family property?

 Thank you Lawrence! And unfortunately not yet. There's been a few properties I thought had a lot of potential but currently I feel like I don't have enough saved
and I won't have the time to complete the renovations in a timely manner. I'm currently going into my 2nd year as an independent agent. I hit my quota my first year by working long days, but my book of business won't produce sufficient income until (at the earliest) the end of my 2nd year. I'd like to start investing in real estate to create another income source and to build equity, but I don't wish to plant that seed if it's not the right season. 

 You’re welcome, Alec! I totally understand! Along with my 9-5 job, I work a side gig as a food delivery driver for extra income! It’s great that you have a plan! I’m excited for you!

[Marcus Auerbach]

Quote from @Alec Esenther:

Hello Everyone, I am currently based in Oconomowoc WI and I plan to invest in Oconomowoc, Watertown, and the surrounding areas. This year (hopefully), I plan to purchase a single family home and turn it into a duplex, in which I will house hack! The first time I became interested in real estate investing was when I worked for a real estate investor as a carpenter/laborer while attending college.

After becoming an avid listener to the BiggerPockets podcast and reading "Rich Dad Poor Dad, I realized acquiring assets and diversifying income sources is the key to financial freedom. I'm currently working as an independent insurance agent and saving up as much as possible for my down payment. I'm looking to connect with like minded people and I'm eager to soak up as much knowledge as possible!

 Hi Alec welcome on board and a few thoughts on converting a SF into a duplex. I call them jokingly "one and a half plexes" and we have many in Milwaukee. They do not function well: access to upstairs is usually difficult, often a narrow back staircase too narrow for bigger furniture, heating and colling ductwork is not split, so in the summer the lower will freeze and in the winter the upper will be too warm (and leave a window open). Power is not seperatly metered, so you have a joint utility bill. Getting a kitchen installed upstairs is expensive and usually means loosing a bedroom. The layout is usually not great, rent for the upper will be lower. This works in CA, but fortunatkly in WI real estate is still "cheap" enough that this does not make sense compared to a real 2 family.

Much better to buy a duplex that was built as a duplex! Better floorplan, better mechnaicals, higher rents. And you can do this with a low downpayment, owner occupied loan. 

For local networking join the RPAWI.ORG, next summer social in August on the South Shore Terrace Beer garden, also on FB. And if you like take a look at my YouTube channel with monthly market updates for the Greater Milwaukee Area @MarcusMKE.