New from Metro Detroit - Clarkston, MI

[Bryan Whitfield]

Hello BP collegues! Here is hoping Brandon won't "bag" on me because I am from the Detroit area...northern Oakland County to be specific.

Despite Brandon's feelings for where I live, I love the BP content, the podcast/guests and of course the forums and am looking forward to learning a lot here.

In Rich Dad Poor Dad lingo, my current "profession" is developing energy efficiency and reliability opportunities in Chrysler manufacturing facilities, lowering manufacturing facility/process life cycle costs. My "business" is the accumulation of income producing assets which will help my family achieve financial security and leave a legacy for my family and for the causes we believe in.

My strategy to "buy and hold" mutual funds over the past 30 years has yielded disappointing results at best. I have seen my portfolio appreciate significantly only to see it loose 30% to 50% of its value at least three different times during this period. While we have accumulated a significant amount of money by some standards, the goal of living off these assets after my "profession" ends is not realistic...yet.

I always knew real estate would be a better investment for us, given my "personal advantage" gained through years of residential and industrial construction and facility engineering experience, but was too busy working and making great quantities of money for others to pay attention to my personal "business" of accumulation of quality, income producing assets. I also admit to clinging to a number of uninformed "excuses" for not getting involved sooner.

Having come to the realization that we will not meet our financial security goals without a change in strategy and with an entrepreneurial fire burning in my heart, I am here to learn to develop winning deals. Secondly but just as important, I need to build a team that we can work with for the next 15+ years to achieve the financial security goals we have set.

I look forward to learning and connecting with BP contributors and helping out where I can. Lets get started!

Sincerely,

Bryan Whitfield

Clarkston, MI

[Tom A.]

Welcome to BP Bryan! You'll find a wealth of information here and a good number of Detroiters. We're having a casual meetup on Wednesday at Champps in Troy - details at

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/115567

It's a great way to meet others at all points on the real estate investing experience spectrum. Typically 20 - 30 SE Michigan investors turn out for conversation and camaraderie which also plants the seeds for doing deals together. We do these every month, hope to see you at one.