Newbie From Tracy, CA

[Kenneth Hugen]

Hello BP! I'm so thankful to have found this web site! Hope this isn't too long of a post, but I'm in equipment sales and love information! Let me tell you a little about us. Married 27 years. Love low debt and we have very little. Want to keep my current job selling and managing sales. We have lived in Tracy for 28 years and seen the Realestate BOOM to bust at least twice. We have reaped the benefits on our personal house but lacked the knowledge to leverage any property on our own. We kept our first house in 1996 and rented it. We sold it about 2 years later, which turned out to be about 1 year TOO early. The house doubled overnight- AFTER we sold it....yeah yeah I know hind sites 20/20. (I sold it myself and managed the sale with the help of a great mortgage broker). Then in 2011 I knew it was time to buy. But as an individual cash buyer thrown to the WOLVES of local agents, we never had a chance in our area. We were cash buyers with $125,000. We offered low the first time, I doubt the offer was ever presented. We offered asking on the second home and it went for $10k over asking. Then we found what seemed perfect and offered $99k for a house listed at $79k. An hour after we submitted, the house had gone pending, and I was told later it sold for $79k! I felt very much over my head in what seemed like should be a simple task. At 47 years old with $125k burning a hole in my pocket, I can't spend it! Argue!!!!!

Last year we paid off our current home, and still have $100k liquid cash plus a line of credit. We were referred to a local investor realtor. We set up the LLC and jumped in with $200,000. We intended on flipping. Auctions dried up, so it took 5 months to secure a short sale in Sacramento. They did all the work and had pretty good communication, but then it became obvious that they were spending too much on rehab. I started suspecting that they had "their own people" doing the work. Had I not stepped in and questioned EVERYTHING, we would have lost$3000. We ended up making $8000, until last week when I received a $1200 bill for work performed last summer. (That's a completely different topic). So to some it up, we want to invest in Realestate, and are open to learning. Flips seem exciting, rental is an option as well. Do we buy multiple properties and use cash down and fiancé the rest, or do we buy one for cash and wait. I'm open to suggestions. The fundamentals of what BP has laid out makes sense to me. We aren't expecting a "get rich quick scheme". We just want to build some wealth for our retirement in the next 10 to 15 years and need some education on the topic.