New member in North Iowa

[Tom Woythal]

Hello, my name is Tom Woythal, and am married with two daughters at home. My wife and I have already made up our minds to become full-time real estate investors. We've been considering this for years, but we are now confident that this is the direction that we want to take. At this time, however, we know basically nothing about real estate, or the industry. I'll give a little background so that everyone can get a better picture of where we are and where we desire to go. I am originally from Syracuse, New York (was born there), then our family moved to Long Island, and then to the Midwest when I was about 9 years old, and I grew up in Barrington, IL, a Northwest suburb of Chicago. My wife is originally from Tennessee, and we met in Iowa (that's a long story for a different day... lol). Anyway, I'm 51 years old, and currently driving a truck; running 48 states. I had gone to flight training in 1999-2003, and my plans were to get my certificates and ratings, and a college degree, and then go to the airlines. I did accomplish all of these things, however, while I was in flight school, 911 happened, and it dramatically affected the airline industry. Whereas a new regional pilot could make about $30,000 per year starting out (pre-911), and be up to $60,000-$90,000 within 1-2 years with an opportunity for rapid advancement and pay increases, a new pilot now starts out at around $18,000, and advancement opportunities have been dramatically reduced (approximately cut in half). I found that I could make significantly more money in trucking, and needed to support my family, and so that is the direction that we took. I have been driving since 2003, and over the road since 2006. I completed my bachelors degree at Iowa State University in Ames, IA, and am currently working on my Master's degree in business (MBA) through University of Phoenix, and am about halfway done. Because of what we went through pursuing the flying thing, we don't have any money to invest, and had accumulated a bunch of debt. However, that is why I am here. I believe that all things are possible to those who have faith in God and are willing to work hard, seek opportunities, and make use of them. I've heard people such as Brandon saying that it's possible to get started in creative ways such as hard money loans, etc., or through others wo are willing to become partners, and so forth. In other words, there are creative ways to do this, not necessarly easy, but possible. So I have lots of questions... How would I get started? What do I need to watch out for? Our short term goal is to maybe get a couple of deals done (we want to flip houses), and get enough money put into the bank (about 6mos worth of basic living expenses) so that I can get off the road, and then get into it full time. I greatly appreciate any feedback and/or advice... Thanks!! Tom Woythal