Portland, OR, Highly motivated and ready to start investing!

[Aaron Shade]

Hello everyone!

My name is Aaron.  I am a native Porltander and know the area very well.  I enjoy the outdoors, geology, geography, beaches, whales, kayaking and the list keeps going.  I am very excited about life and am ready to start a new chapter in real estate.

I've been in the corporate finance world for 15+ years and hold an MBA from the University of Colorado.  I know that this job will not help me achieve my goals in life.  

My goal is not to get rick quick, or follow gurus to the pot of gold.  It is instead a path to retiring comfortably and early, so that I can spend more time with family and travel.  To start, I want to find a reasonably priced duplex or triplex that I can live in and reduce my rent.  Then I want to save like crazy so I can fund the next opportunity.  I know I am in an expensive area which poses a lot of challenges to overcome.  I appreciate any advice in getting started in this market or nearby.

I have listened to nearly 70 of the bigger pockets podcasts in the past month and am ready to start meeting people here in the forums.  Education comes first, then mentor, then action.

Cheers,

Aaron

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

Welcome to Biggerpockets!

Our goal is to retire at age 42 and 44 (15 years) when my husband has the opportunity to retire from the Navy. So I totally understand about your goal of retiring early :) I also have an MBA and an undergraduate degree in Finance with a minor in Accounting.

Our model is buy and hold real estate through pure rentals, personals turned rentals all being class A properties so smaller margin but lower expenses. WE got started through renting out personal homes.

This site has tons of great sources. Check out the Blogs, and forums too. Biggerpockets community is truly awesome through their diversity (buy and hold, wholesalers, bird dogs, commerce, developers, flippers, agents, etc). Another unique resource is peoples personal blogs/websites that can be found in the signature. Within the above "groups" everyone has create their own niches. Many of us have create a website/blog giving more information about our model, etc.

My blog is about self management from a distance, personal properties turned rentals, operating nicer houses on smaller margins, full time job with rentals on the side, etc. 

There is tons of great information and people.