New member in Summerville, SC

[Brian Cate]

Hello All,

Brian here from Summerville, SC a suburb of Charleston, SC.  I've lived here for about 15 years.  Originally from Manchester, NH. I've always had an interest in real estate.  Studied architecture and ran a small design company back in the early 90's.  I ran an international trading company for 7 years, until the "Global Economic Meltdown" finally put me out of business in 2011.  Lots of lessons learned from that experience.

Still trying to close my first deal. Started doing research, reading, and watching, everything I could get me hands on about 8 months ago. I have been trying to bird dog for a couple investors I met at the local REIA. But , in this area, it seems the great deals (30% margin) are few and far between. Was laid off from my day job in July, so I have the time, just can't seem to find the properties. I have tried yellow letters, bandit signs, craigslist, networking, etc. Most of the responses are owners that are upside down. So, I tried to arrange some lease / purchase deals using option contracts, again to no avail. Driving for dollars, has yielded a few motivated sellers, but the deals still were not what the investors, I've met, were looking for.

I do have one potential buy, fix, hold deal that I will post on the Marketplace.  Right now, I am just looking for a finder's fee or to flip paper to generate some income, and build my savings back up after being out of work for 4 months.  Long term, I'll looking for passive income, probably though seller financing.  Not really interested in being a landlord.

I have been told I need a mentor who has worked successfully in this area, but have not met the right people, yet.

Recently, I spoke with a few investors that said they were stepping out of the market for a while.  Is there something happening that I'm not aware of?

Any advice or guidance is definitely appreciated, and I will be sure to try and reciprocate.

I may be rambling a bit, but just wanted to get it all out there.  Thanks for reading.

Brian