The winding road that lead me to BP...

[Jon Elson]

Hello,

I am originally from Detroit and have been practicing tax accounting (with a CPA) for the past 5 years in Charlotte, NC. I own a house and two dogs. Over a year ago I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad; I became hooked in the idea of generating wealth outside of my salaried job. I jumped in head first, partnering with a good friend, and purchased a franchise (making existing homes energy efficient to save on power and gas bills) that was meant to be used as "proof-of-concept." Unfortunately, with my demanding job, and my partners demanding business, we were not able to devote enough time to start the company, made many rookie mistakes, and eventually put the business “on hold.”

One of the things I learned about this service based business, is that you are always working in it, there is not an opportunity for passive income or repeat customers.I spent six months reflecting on the risk I took and taking the time to determine the direction in which I wanted to move. This is when I purchased the book on flipping houses (with no knowledge of BP). At this time a friend turned me on to BiggerPockets, and I was hooked. I have been educating myself listening to podcasts whenever I can, I have successfully listened to the all the BP podcasts since inception. I learned a big lesson with my first investment of the franchise, and will be educating myself before my next one.

About a month ago, I had planned on purchasing an investment property with the funds that came from selling back the license for the franchise at .50/$1. The sale still has yet to occur; so, I audibled, and decided on flipping my house (that I've lived in for 2 years aka tax free gain) to generate my first RE income. I am now reading J. Scott's book on flipping houses. I will be doing my first interview of contractors in the next month and would like to have my house ready to hit the market this spring.

I live in the Charlotte area and would like to find a mentor whom I can help with my accounting skills as well as boots-on-the-ground in Charlotte (if said mentor lived out of state and wanted to invest).

Oddly enough I ended up at an estate sale (located down the street from my house) last weekend, I put an offer in on the house yesterday, it was not accepted b/c the seller was not motivated and had the time to price it at the top of the market. That was my first of many rejections in what will be a long career of real estate investing. Please let me know if you have any questions or advice on my road so far. I'd like to get to know people on this site and get active!

Best Regards,

Jon