?Hello from Anywhere USA (but really India at this very moment)

[Jamie Greenberg]

Hi everyone. My name is Jamie and I'm yet another newbie/wannabe investor who is looking to get into the real estate game. I've been devouring the podcasts and thought it was finally time to introduce myself.

I am a software engineer by day, but I am hoping to get out of the rat-race like yesterday and become financially independent. I think we could live a comfortable life on $25-30K a year, not counting a paid off home…so that is my goal income…with anything extra being a bonus.

My wife and I live in San Diego, CA but are mid-way through a year of travel away from our amazing but pricey So-Cal home. We had been traveling around the US for 6 months, with plans of spending 3 months in Europe and then another 3 months in the US again afterward. Unfortunately the day we were supposed to fly out to Europe we received word that my wife's mother was in intensive care in Mumbai, so we headed there/here instead and are still here helping her recover.

We love San Diego but the price of housing and our mortgage payment is by far our biggest expense, so we are searching for a new home-base (maybe somewhere in the greater Denver/Fort Collins/Longmont/Colorado Springs area, maybe Salt Lake area, but we are considering everything still). We owe about $400K on our home worth about $700-$750K, so ideally I would like to downsize and get a good chunk of that equity out to use for investments.

At this point I don't think I'm interested in becoming a full time flipper or wholesaler, as I'd like to make this endeavor as passive as possible. I understand that it is still work and nothing with solid returns is completely passive…but I don't want to be working 30+ hour weeks every week of the year. I'm interested in traditional buy and hold and am REALLY intrigued by note investing….though I have a lot more to learn on the subject before I am comfortable diving in.

One of the reasons I'd like to get as passive as possible as quickly as possible, is that I am definitely an introverted personality. Speaking well to strangers is not one of my strong suits and I do fear this will hold me back to some degree in negotiation or finding deals. I'm hoping as I get used to it I'll gain more confidence….but I do naturally gravitate toward investing that lets me hide behind my computer as much as possible..haha. I know that's not really a good thing but just thought I'd be honest in describing myself.

I'm sure I'm missing something but I think I've rambled enough for now. Looking forward to continuing my real estate education and becoming more active in these forums. Thanks for reading!

Jamie