Long Time Lurker First Time Poster

[George N.]

Hello all. I've been lurking on Bigger Pockets for years now. Ramping up for my next purchase I've found myself visiting the site more often and felt like I should at least upgrade my account as a small payback for the incredible amount of knowledge I've gained here. A long with 5-6 of my favorite books BP has been the single most important resource. It's incredible to be able to tap into a collective wisdom this deep and explore differing ideas and viewpoints so easily. I've found just about every field/interest or whatever has one or two gold standard resources on the net that stand out. BP is clearly that in the REI world. What did people do before the internet?

I'm an active duty Air Force member originally from NYC and currently stationed in Great Falls, MT. I have been stationed in the Omaha, NE area as well as Monterey, CA. Posting from Texas where I have also spent a lot of time.

I've always been interested in REI. Growing up a lot of family/friends have been involved and being from NYC it seems everyone from the older generation has a story of that "property that got away that would have made me wealthy etc." I mean, it's true, throw a dart at a map in NYC in 1980, buy whatever it hits and chances are you did amazingly well. Perhaps as a result I mostly fall in line with the David Schumacher "Buy and Hold Forever" type investing style. Lately though I've gotten the bug to try out different angles as well. By and large I'm a value/contrarian type investor whatever the field.

Though I always planned on RE investing it was the accidental landlord situation we hear so much about that pushed me into it. Glad for it too because otherwise between kids and career I may have started later. Bought a house when we were stationed in Omaha and when we left our friends just happened to be looking for a place to rent. They rented our house for a couple years and when they left we decided to keep renting. It went great so, like so many times before, an RE investor was born out of the confidence/experience gained from an accidental situation. My brother and I ended up with a not insignificant inheritance (though not the kind to quit your day job on or anything) so I decided to shift away from a heating up stock market into a more beat-up RE market.

My wife is from the Bozeman, MT area and the place really grew on me. It's a college town, it's beautiful, is a high quality of life small city, it's growing rapidly, and it's the kind of place people visit and fall in love with/stay. So feeling more comfortable as a landlord/being familiar with the area and having people I know there I decided that's where I'd purchase next. Picked up two four families a couple of years ago using a lot of the knowledge I'd gained here and I've been very happy with them.

While looking for my next quad I've gotten the RE bug in a different way this time. The original plan was pretty passive... buy and forget basically, pick up a couple more 4-plexes, do another 8 years until I hit my 20 and retire. Then I'd just fiddle with them as a self-employment type situation. But lately I've started to feel like I want to try out new angles and use the next 8 years a bit more aggressively. Too bad I didn't feel this way in 2009/2010! I just love RE. I love looking at a building I own. I love the idea that I provide a home for a bunch of families. I love driving by and seeing new construction, growth, renovation, or heck just a random building out there that I know someone is making money off of.

I'm fortunate enough to have the benefit of the experience of a few deals, a decent amount of capital, and available financing. I'm open to different markets in the area (Missoula, Billings, Helena) or even perhaps out of state (less likely). Decided I'm going to pursue a license as I'm by nature a data guy and want MLS access. Thinking I probably should have been tapping into wholesalers out there as that isn't my cup of tea personally but the benefits are obviously there. Basically wanting to learn/expand/interact/network more so I look forward to being more active around here. Longest intro ever!