Newbie from Lincoln, Nebraska

New Member Introductions
11yFollow

Newbie from Lincoln, Nebraska

David Wooten
Lincoln, NE · Member since 2015 · 24 posts · 6 votes

Greetings All!!

Name's David Wooten.  I'm active duty military, have been for 15 years.  Married for 15 years.  Five kids (number six due in March).  Looking to get -really- get started in the Real Estate business.

A number of years ago, my wife and I paid a good sum of money for real estate lessons and such but in the end, didn't completely follow through with it all.  I think most of the problem for me was that back then, I wasn't patient and I allowed myself to be distracted by computer games and other junk.  As I close in on my retirement (here in five years), I'm realizing more and more that I need to line something up for when that day comes.

I've started looking into a college degree as well, but thought that I should really give this real estate thing a solid commital and run with it.

My initial interests in real estate, I think, are short sales.  We don't have the starting capital do really for anything overly pricey.  I am open to good advice though.

I have no real estate experience except for buying my house, which seemed to be a good buy at the time, but 10 years later, hasn't appreciated as much as I had hoped it would. 

I came upon BiggerPockets through some searches on short sales and trying to research Freedom Mentors.

Think that's about it.

I'm looking forward to learning and the future!!

2Reply
14 views

Most Popular Reply

Kerry BairdPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Melbourne, FL · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
11y

Welcome!  Videmus Omnia~  We're a military family, as well.  DH has 22 years in; I did 10 before getting out to be Mom.  This also led to me starting out in RE to make up my salary.  Our first house was purchased in the UK, our second in AZ, both owner occupied.  Then we started teaching the CashFlow game and soon began a marketing campaign...we bought a number of pre-foreclosures, a probate and did one short sale.  The marketing brought a number of deals: some were fix-and-flips, some were buy-and-holds.  As the calls were starting to roll in from the marketing, we were relocated to the UK again.  In the UK, we bought another owner occupied house.  At that point we realized that we'd need to buy at a distance in order to keep the momentum going, so we bought 3 houses at a distance, two units in TX and one in FL.  We just PCSd to FL and are looking to ramp up again.  

All that said, your W-2 income will serve you well, as will your VA loan. We have fixed up every house we have lived in and moved to take advantage of the tax benefits to military (can obtain tax-free gains from an owner occupied house that you live in for 2 out of 10 years, rather than the 5 that civilians get). Also, we have saved up down-payment funds by saving tax-free income on deployments, or using the 10% interest program for deployed individuals, and have used tax refunds as down payment money. We've only used the VA once, and since both of us qualify, we will move again after a year in order to use the VA loan again.

Lastly, I have a number of houses around Goodfellow, rented to fellow AF.  I know how to set the rents based upon BAH (for E-5 rank), how to go through the chain of command to collect rents, etc.  And I set up my paperwork and file folders similar to at work, and created checklists and systems that were like those you already know for your workplace.  SO...read up on marketing, which in my opinion, is a great way to get started learning.  Set up a keyword alert here, and read.  The book that set up my systems best was Keller's Millionaire Real Estate Investor.  Keller has tables of how many houses to buy and at what speed in order to reach certain income or equity positions.  I've got that book highlighted in a rainbow of colors.  

There are so many resources here...dig deep~

1Reply
See this reply in the discussion

9 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Jeremy Tillotson
    Investor · Fort Wayne, IN · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 515 votes
    11y

    @David Wooten Welcome to BP, you say you weren't patience and want to do a short sale, I could write a book about that, short sales are not short. None the less if I can help let me know.

    0Reply
  • Kerry BairdPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Melbourne, FL · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    11y

    Welcome!  Videmus Omnia~  We're a military family, as well.  DH has 22 years in; I did 10 before getting out to be Mom.  This also led to me starting out in RE to make up my salary.  Our first house was purchased in the UK, our second in AZ, both owner occupied.  Then we started teaching the CashFlow game and soon began a marketing campaign...we bought a number of pre-foreclosures, a probate and did one short sale.  The marketing brought a number of deals: some were fix-and-flips, some were buy-and-holds.  As the calls were starting to roll in from the marketing, we were relocated to the UK again.  In the UK, we bought another owner occupied house.  At that point we realized that we'd need to buy at a distance in order to keep the momentum going, so we bought 3 houses at a distance, two units in TX and one in FL.  We just PCSd to FL and are looking to ramp up again.  

    All that said, your W-2 income will serve you well, as will your VA loan. We have fixed up every house we have lived in and moved to take advantage of the tax benefits to military (can obtain tax-free gains from an owner occupied house that you live in for 2 out of 10 years, rather than the 5 that civilians get). Also, we have saved up down-payment funds by saving tax-free income on deployments, or using the 10% interest program for deployed individuals, and have used tax refunds as down payment money. We've only used the VA once, and since both of us qualify, we will move again after a year in order to use the VA loan again.

    Lastly, I have a number of houses around Goodfellow, rented to fellow AF.  I know how to set the rents based upon BAH (for E-5 rank), how to go through the chain of command to collect rents, etc.  And I set up my paperwork and file folders similar to at work, and created checklists and systems that were like those you already know for your workplace.  SO...read up on marketing, which in my opinion, is a great way to get started learning.  Set up a keyword alert here, and read.  The book that set up my systems best was Keller's Millionaire Real Estate Investor.  Keller has tables of how many houses to buy and at what speed in order to reach certain income or equity positions.  I've got that book highlighted in a rainbow of colors.  

    There are so many resources here...dig deep~

    1Reply
  • Tyler Flagg
    Investor · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2013 · 277 posts · 78 votes
    11y

    @David Wooten welcome to BP. I've never taken a real estate course, but I can almost guarantee that you'll like this website a lot more! I'm an Air Force guy myself a just started investing back in April. I probably would have given up a number of times if it weren't for the daily motivation I was able to get from the forums and blogs. 

    Feel free to send me a message if there is anything I can do to help. Best of luck David!

    0Reply
  • James Wise
    Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    11y

    @David Wooten 

    welcome to the site.

    0Reply
  • Elizabeth Colegrove
    Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    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! My husband is active duty Navy. Our goal is to create a cash flow to fund early retirement at the completion of my husbands navy career. 

    By the way, funny you should mention short sale. Those are our speciality. You should check out podcast 103 and the article at the bottom. Those are amazing but they so have changed.

    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!!!

    0Reply
  • Paul Timmins
    Specialist · Rockland, MA · Member since 2010 · 7k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    11y

    @David Wooten 

    Welcome. Thanks for your service. Time to build the foundation below.

    Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

    Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

    Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 100 past ones to catch up on.

    Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

    Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and all the cash buyers (rehabbers) you will need.

    Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

    You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

    Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

    http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

    Good luck

    Paul

    0Reply
  • Brandon TurnerPro Member
    Investor · Maui, HI · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    11y

    Hey @David Wooten  thanks for introducing yourself! It's great to have you here! Don't miss The BiggerPockets Podcast - they are great for learning how others are finding success.

    Oh - and be sure to set up some Keyword Alerts- especially for "Lincoln" so you'll be notified when people mention it here in the forums.

    Thanks again for introducing yourself!

    Podcast Guest on Show #92
    0Reply
  • David Wooten
    OP
    Lincoln, NE · Member since 2015 · 24 posts · 6 votes
    11y

    @Jeremy Tillotson

    Thanks for the welcome!  I just meant that I wasn't patient enough to educate myself appropriately before wanting to try to start to get into deals.  Had more of the "get rich quick" mindset.  :/

    @Kerry Baird

    Thanks for the welcome!  It's encouraging to hear stories of fellow military folks that are having success in real estate.  Thanks for your service!  I'm just getting started on the education piece and trying to figure out the "smart" way to do things.  With (soon to be) seven dependents, I'm trying to take the lessy risky approach.  Goal is to be able to do this full-time once I retire.

    @Tyler Flagg

    Thanks for the welcome!  Again, another military brother.  Thanks for your service!  You say you just started in April.  How're things going for you?  Like I said above, I'm trying to figure out the best way to start.  Currently, I'm reviewing this article and am leaning hard on following all of his advice:

    http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/10/22...

    @James Wise

    Thanks for the welcome!  Interesting profile.

    @Elizabeth Colegrove

    Thanks for the welcome!  Another military family, GREAT!!  You may be tickled to know that we're thinking of naming our baby Elizabeth.  It's one of our top two (my top one).  Sounds like you're having a successful go.  I like your strategy and will listen to that podcast this weekend, if not sooner.

    @Paul Timmins

    Thanks for the welcome! I've a lot of reading to do. Thanks for the tips and pointers! I'll look into local REI groups right away. I only wish I could read and process information faster. :D Again, thanks for the guidance!

    @Brandon Turner

    Thanks for the welcome!  I've gone ahead and added Lincoln to my keywords per your suggestion.  I'll be getting into the podcasts today here shortly.  Again, thanks!

    I'd post more, but my two year old wants to go outside and kick snow around.  That, and I have a -lot- of information to catch up on.  Thanks All for the Welcome!!

    0Reply
  • Larry Fried
    Investor/RE Broker · Eugene, OR · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 968 votes
    11y

    @David Wooten Hi and welcome to BP!

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free