Hi from New York and Brooklyn

[Martin Woll]

Hi BP Community,

First off, thank you so much to everyone on this site and who help to run it. It is a unique web property to bring individuals involved in real estate together.

My name is Martin. I have spent the last 1-2 months researching, learning, and developing my real estate game plan that will help me to build long-term wealth. I have an entrepreneurial spirit that has been within me since a child. I currently work in Manhattan for a large European financial institution. I love my job as it challenging and helping me build my career within my industry. However, over the last 2 years, I have been wanting to do something slightly more entrepreneurial and help me to build long-term wealth. And then real estate investing hit me!

Though, I am new to my niche I am not entirely new to real estate investing. I worked at a hedge fund that invested in publicly traded REITs for less than two years and covered the strip center, apartment, and hotel sectors. So I am familiar with the "big boys" in apts like Avalon Bay or Archstone, etc. I have good financial skills and good planning and strategic skills. I am going to take advantage of these to develop and execute my plan.

My Plan is to - Purchase multi-family units (2-4) that need slight rehab or cosmetic work to force demand appreciation. Given I currently rent I would like to be an owner-occupant in one unit and qualify for a FHA loan. I would like to complete this first purchase and learn from my success/mistakes and deploy additional capital into a second, third, and other investments. I currently live in Brooklyn so I am investigating this area and the ones around me. But I know that I might have to expand my sights to areas outside of the New York City area to places across the country or within a couple hours drive of where I live.

I will not buy a property that doesn't "make sense." I want monthly cash flow and want to target a specific cash-on-cash return.

So typically, I know people reply and give great ideas on how to beef up one's knowledge in real estate. But let me tell you what I have done so far:

1. I read the BP Ultimate Beginners Guide (UBG)

2. Read about 20 books on real estate investing (David Schumacher, David Lindahl, Larry Loftis, Bryan Chavis, a book on real estate financial terms/metrics, and am continuing to read several more)

3. Listed to ~5 BP podcasts and will continue more

4. Read @BrandonTurner e-book

5. Read a multitude of blogs

6. Started going to my local NY REIA meeting groups and will be at the next BP meeting in New York in June in a few weeks.

Now I know as I get started it could take some time to get to my first deal. I want to lay out my game plan, understand how I will execute it and build a great team to help me do it.

If there is anyone in the New York City (NYC) area that could provide any good recommendations for the following I would greatly appreciate it.

1. Real estate attorney who knows about small multi-family buildings,

2. Mortgage brokers/originators or lenders

3. Contractors and handy men

I am also in search of just better understanding the market and connecting with more established and successful investors to learn from and share ideas.

I look forward to meeting some of the people on the site and look forward to building some relationships.

See all of you around.

Martin