Cautiously Optimistic in San Luis Obispo, CA

[Kristin Horowitz]

Hi guys,

I suppose it's time to post here. I've been listening to the podcast and reading the forums and articles for a few months. I got started thinking about real estate investing a few months ago because a woman I rent sheep from (I have a peculiar hobby of training dogs to work livestock) told me that's what she did and had me read Cashflow Quadrant.

I'm the sort that does as much research as possible before jumping in, though the message here seems to be JUST DO IT.

My family has a history of real estate investment, none of it long-term successful, so I am trying to figure out the pitfalls instead of be dazzled by the possibilities. My mother liked to buy investments that 'were a sure thing' that I knew were not and my brother got rich house flipping until he stepped into the development end and got stuck with a property he couldn't develop and then the housing bubble collapsed.

I'm a small business owner - I run one fairly passive income (for me) non-profit and a VERY energy sucking event business (my husband's dream). The nice thing is I live off the first job and the second job, when it makes money, is gravy (aka, investment potential). I figure I'm about six months from a down payment on the type of investment I want. I'm looking at some solid industry-based towns that have low barriers to entry (specifically down payments and big rental markets) an hour or two away from where I live.

I rent my own residence, and I have very little chance of breaking into the buyer market with my current income. Ultimate goal would be to comfortably afford to buy a 10 acre farm in town (about $1,000,000).

I think the plan is to do buy-and-hold investment, using the cash generated from the cashflow to continue to buy more. At least for now. I think I've got the marketing and managment aspects dialed: I'm a professional marketer now and I manage so many people's needs and have been the house manager for every rental/roommate situation I've been in, so not scared of that.

But I'm having a really hard time with the confidence aspect of this stuff. I just know sometimes "too good to be true" is, and I don't have a lot of cash to spare (and lose) if I make mistakes.

Here's me and my prize winning stockdogs at a trial. :P