New Member in Woodland, WA

[Kirk Koskiniemi]

Hello All-

I'm a new member who lives in Woodland and works in the Vancouver, WA area. For my day job, I am the General Manager for a construction company with around 20 employees, so I do have 10 years or so of construction experience.

I currently have one rental (a result of me being upside down on my first house, purchased in 2007) which cash flows about -$300/mo, and manage another rental property for a family member in the same situation. I own another home I bought last April, and plan to rent this one out for cash flow (although I don't think it'll meet even the 1% rule).

Honestly, I signed up for this site just to get the "Ultimate Guide...", and have since started listening to podcasts, reading, etc... It's interesting to learn about what I have done wrong the last few years :).

Now that I have paid dearly for some experience (Eviction, bad tenants, etc) I thought it would be wise to soak up some good info before trying to put together my next deal. I'm thinking I like the long term benefits of buy and hold renting, but realize I need to get my purchase price down there somehow....

I have bought my last two houses with owner-occupied conventional financing, and am interested to learn about other options (besides cash).

I'm glad to be part of the massive information exchange on here.

Thanks!

Kirk

[Darren Sager]

Welcome to BP @Kirk Koskiniemi ! Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself. I think a great way to begin using BP is to read the Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing as Josh and Brandon did a great job with it.And now that you're here we'd love to see you be an active member of the BP community so be sure to set up Keywords Alerts for your local area such as "Woodland" or "Vancouver" if you're looking to find potential opportunities for investing, education in a subject, or other members in your area. Use the Find Members area to network with other members who are local to you or are in an area you're wanting to invest in. Podcasts come out weekly and are great way to learn on the move. I find there's always a gold nuggets of information in each one and I go back to listen to a number of them multiple times.

If you appreciate a post that a fellow member put up responding to you be sure to say "Thank You!" by casting a vote for it.If you think a response you read is good or answers another member's question well cast a vote for it.It's our own version of liking something on Facebook provided you're familiar with that. Simply click the box in the upper right corner of the post!

If you want to get a member's direct attention in a post you're writing first type an @ and then a ?, (example: @?) and then wait..................... (sometimes longer than you might expect), for their name to appear below where you're writing, then be sure to click on it.IF it doesn't have their name highlighted in a blue background (like yours is above) it didn't work properly and you should try again. This will send them an email or an alert notifying them that you've mentioned them. Those alerts can also be seen if you mouse over the "Inbox" on the upper right menu bar and scroll down.

And lastly I highly recommend becoming a Plus or Pro member of the site and take advantage of all that BP has to offer you. It like getting the keys to the kingdom. It will be one of the best investments you'll make when it comes your real estate investing.

Again welcome to Bigger Pockets!