Newbie from Marietta, Georgia

[Lauren Galan]

Hello everyone!

My name is Lauren and I live in Marietta, Georgia with my husband of 18 years, Miguel. We are DINKs (dual income, no kids), debt-free (including a paid-off primary residence), and plan to semi-retire in our early fifties. We are very interested in supplementing our portfolio with a few rental properties to buy and hold for 10-20 years. The hope is that these would provide passive income (especially between the ages of 50-65 to allow our 401Ks and Pensions to mature).

Miguel introduced me to this site as I have been talking about purchasing a rental property for a while now, and he realized I was serious and suggested I learn more. Already, Bigger Pockets has provided me with a better idea of what it takes to be a landlord including pit-falls to avoid, cash vs. financing, and how to calculate potential income (this is still a bit fuzzy for me and look forward to learning more).

Our goal is to purchase 2-5 properties within ten miles of our primary residence. As I mentioned, we are totally new to this, but excited to potentially purchase our first rental property in the next 3-6 months (we just found out a neighbor is moving and we are hoping to buy before she lists it). Once I have the details, I will definitely ask for your advice J

Thank you for the information so far – I look forward to learning more, growing my network, and becoming an active member of this community.

Best regards,

Lauren

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

Welcome to Biggerpockets!

You found the place to be! You will find no better place to build a solid platform than bigger pockets. The one thing we all agree up on is that we invest in real estate. Beyond that everyone has a different niche!

We are much young DINK's but got started as a way to create a cash flow for early retirement. Although rentals have their moments, as does life. They have been very rewards and a great financial strategy. Although we own out of state, I am a HUGE advocate of owning local. I would also look into self-management. IF you buy the right type of rentals and set up the systems it can be doable anywhere. I love to travel and have still been very successful!

You might want to look into short sales. As investors we specialize in short sales. They are my FAVORITE type of investment. While they have their own "special spice of hardness". They are a great way to get your foot in the door at a cheaper price. So your money goes farther.

We are buy and hold investors who invest in class A properties self-managing from a distance while working full time. So we do work on furthering our careers. We live very frugally allowing us to live off of one income and save the other. We have further our career and used the W2 income to leverage our real estate portfolio.

I highly recommend you also check out- the blogs, forums and listen to the podcasts. If you see a post you enjoy check out the persons signature. As many of us have created resources around our niche (websites, blogs, etc) so checking out the signature is a great to get more information. Make sure you don't miss out on networking is by filling out your signature, profile and pming people with questions.

Look forward to seeing you around! Let me know if I can help! Good luck!!!