A Teacher Ready to Pivot

[Megan Ghothane]

Good morning! I am a teacher in Maryland public schools and looking for a big change! I have followed Bigger Pockets and investing for awhile - I have even dabbled in investing with my husband in the past. In teaching, buzzwords are a huge thing and I'm going to use a lot of the real estate investing ones in this introduction...

I have the analysis paralysis. I have listened to Podcasts, participated in Webinars, watched YouTube videos, read books, ran the calculators - from BRRRR to wholesaling to short-term rentals and more, but I have never pulled the trigger. I am ready to make the big change and feel that I do have the knowledge, yet still maintain the openness to learn and grow; however, I am missing the connections. The networking. I am excited to finally join the discussions and start taking action.

I want to grow a rental portfolio that can take me down a path of purpose and my family to a place of financial freedom. 

[Tanner Lewis]

Quote from @Sara Frank:

Quote from @Megan Ghothane:

Good morning! I am a teacher in Maryland public schools and looking for a big change! I have followed Bigger Pockets and investing for awhile - I have even dabbled in investing with my husband in the past. In teaching, buzzwords are a huge thing and I'm going to use a lot of the real estate investing ones in this introduction...

I have the analysis paralysis. I have listened to Podcasts, participated in Webinars, watched YouTube videos, read books, ran the calculators - from BRRRR to wholesaling to short-term rentals and more, but I have never pulled the trigger. I am ready to make the big change and feel that I do have the knowledge, yet still maintain the openness to learn and grow; however, I am missing the connections. The networking. I am excited to finally join the discussions and start taking action.

I want to grow a rental portfolio that can take me down a path of purpose and my family to a place of financial freedom. 

 Hey Megan! Welcome to BP and congrats on taking the steps to learn. The sheer volume of information can be paralyzing and slow you down. The advice I give my clients is to follow these first steps: 

1) Meet with an investor friendly agent. You can find these on BP or through your personal network. These are NOT your friends who happen to be realtors that sell houses part time, and it's not a quick Zillow search for "best realtor in my area", these agents need to be ones that work extensively with investors of a wide variety. If you have to, interview a couple until you find one that you "click" with. 

2) Let that agent connect you with their network of investor-friendly lenders. 

3) Meet with these lenders, have them talk over your finances with you and what loan products you would qualify for at the moment based on your income and assets. 

4) Let the outcome of that conversation (#3) dictate your strategy moving forward and take your findings back to the realtor so you can craft a plan. 

A lot of first time investors make the mistake of falling in love with ONE strategy (maybe STR, or multifamily, etc) and then wanting to learn everything about that strategy before they take action. When they finally take action, they hit a roadblock (they need to put down more $ than they had originally planned, or they don't actually love the idea of self managing) then they get shiny object syndrome, bouncing around to different strategies until they hit a wall and give up. Start with the end in mind and have your "team" (lender and agent) help you build your network.

Hope this helps and good luck! 

Cant stress the core team enough. Use your lender and realtor to narrow down your buy box and get a deal that is simple to finance. Saves a lot of headaches down the road.