Rental Property Investor · Carlsbad, CA · Member since 2014 · 127 posts · 28 votes
Hey everyone!
A friend of mine turned me onto the Bigger Pockets podcasts as a source of great real estate information, and that led to this site and forums. I'm new to the real estate game, but am very interested in getting better at it.
I am an engineer by day and am looking to invest in real estate by night, and any other time I can find really. I recently bought my first home, and realized the potential that real estate can have for wealth building. I am originally from Michigan, and am amazed at how different the real estate market is here, compared to there. I understand some of the challenges that exist with breaking into this market, but am hoping to find a niche somewhere. I'm sure there's plenty of folks on here who might be able to share some first hand experience of that.
Right now, I'm trying to absorb as much information as I can about effective flipping, as well as buy and holds, for longer term investments.
Thanks for the platform for us newbies to get started, and I look forward to building some good relationships on here.
Welcome to BP community @Bruce Scannell It is a great place to meet new friends and learn about various aspects of real estate and more. Here are a few recommendations for you:
If you wish to tag someone in the conversation on the forum, type @ followed by their name and then select that person below. He or she will be notified of being tagged so that the conversation will continue.
We are buy and hold investors with the plan to plan to real estate as our early retirement plan when my husband retire from the Navy (god and navy willinging) in 15 years. We are also full time employes by day and investors by night (although I warn you it gets exhausting its worth it). This is an amazing place and you will learn tons. We are buy and hold investors in it for the long term cash-flow. Therefore we buy highly leveraged properties, in appreciating areas. Since we both work full time and self manage, we buy properties that allow us to continue this business plan. Therefore our houses tend to be class A real estate, the crappiest house in the nicest neighborhood/school district.
Another great place is to look around the blogs, forums and listen to the podcasts. If you see a post you enjoy check out the persons signature. Many of us including myself talk about our strategies, styles, niches and business model on our website. So definitely check that out as it is an amazing additional resource. For example, my blog is about while working full time, buy and hold investing, 0% Down Rentals, Personal Properties turned rentals, Long distancing investing, self-managing 3,000+ miles away. Definitely list your blog or website in your signature, if you have one. Its a great additional networking source.
Look forward to seeing you around! Let me know if I can help!
Hey Bruce! Welcome to BP. If you're interested in following the real estate market back home, I'm a property manager in Detroit and the metro area and have a decent sense of what the trends are. There are opportunities for both flipping and buy & hold here, although the flips tend to be in the suburbs and the buy & holds tend to be in the city.
I can also endorse the podcasts as treasure troves of value. I'm guessing you have a commute, so you may as well spend that time enlightening yourself!
Hey @Bruce Scannell thanks for jumping in and introducing yourself! If you haven't yet- be sure to setup some "Keyword Alerts" to get into conversation in your target area.
@Dmitriy Fomichenko , thanks for all the extra info. I've read the beginners guide and I'm on podcast 22, with many more to go, but enjoying all the dialogue so far.
@Elizabeth Colegrove , I like to hear all the stories of people playing the REI game while keeping a day job. My goal is to continue doing that until I can support my family with REI alone. It's not that I don't like my job, but I don't like the schedule and would prefer something closer to home. You're right, I've noticed more information on members blogs and websites, right now its like information overload, but I'm tring to absorb as much as I can. Thanks
@Tim Dingman, I'd definitely like to hear more about investing in Michigan. From what I'm finding out about the market around here is that its super competitive and requires a lot of capital. So far all the people on the BP podcasts who have successfully transitioned from something else are in markets where the average house price is below 100k, and they can find a lot of them. In San Diego, those properties are few and far between, and theres usually a reason for that. Not to say I'm not ready for a challenge, but the deal needs to make sense. Anyways, if you get a chance, let me know about what you're doing back in the mitten. Thanks
@Brandon Turner , if added the keyword alerts and my inbox is now inundated with new emails, makes it hard to focus at work, but I'm sure I'll manage. Thanks
@Nazz Wang , and I thought the market was tough down here, I'm sure its even more fun up there. Good luck
@Bruce Scannell, welcome to BP. I'm next door in Oceanside and want to also invite you to a local our local REIA (www.nsdrei.org). We meet the third Tuesday of each month at the El Camino Country Club at 6:00 pm. If you'd like to attend I can get you into your first meeting at no charge. Just let me know.
@Bruce May thanks for the welcome. That would be tomorrow then correct? I'll see what I can do to make it. Can you DM me your phone number in case I'm able to attend? Thanks