Newbie from Lawrence, KS

[Ben N.]

Hello BP community!

My name is Ben Noe, I'm 25 and plugging in here from the city of Lawrence, Kansas.  I currently work for an engineering firm designing building systems for commercial, retail, hospitality, education and healthcare markets.  I am also married and have a kiddo on the way!

I have been on the paying side of rental properties for almost six years.  Four of those years were during college, co-renting with room mates.  Now, I am currently starting into my second year of renting as an individual, while supporting a family.  But looking forward, I would really like to be on the OTHER side... investing to own & renting out!  My background of engineering along with an entrepreneurial bone in my body (starting & running a lawn care service for 9 years) has had me on a search to find a good way to take hold of my family's financial future.  And I wanted to find something I would actually enjoy! 

I've been interested in learning more about real estate investing for quite a few years now... but I never had a specific direction or the right words to describe what I really wanted to do.  My wife and I really enjoy watching all the house flipping shows on HGTV, but that always seemed too far fetched for us financially.  That is, until my search brought me to articles put out by BP!

The very first articles I read were "How to Start Investing in Real Estate at a Young Age" by Brandon Turner, followed by "New Investor Strategy: How to Buy Your First Multi-Family Investment Property & Live Rent Free" by Frank Defazio.  Those two articles put real words and real ideas to what I had been trying to find and understand!  And I said to myself..."I can do that!"

Based on that journey, my hope and goal is to now start by purchasing a live-in multi-family property.  I'll dip my toe in there and then see where it all leads.  I hope to at least make buy and hold investing a side business outside of my full time job.  But I guess time and experience will only tell where all this can lead.

So here I am...I still have allot of learning to do, and I still need to pull together the finances for a first investment.  But I'm excited to have a direction and I'm excited to be here connecting to the BP community!