Very anxious investor from Gurnee, IL

[Carrie Alluri]

Hi there. My name is Carrie Alluri and I'm from Gurnee, IL. I have been married for 12 years to a great husband and have wonderful sons. I have an Electrical Engineering degree but haven't designed anything in over 9 years having moved into more of a project management role.

I have been researching and researching real estate investing for about 3 years now. This is after 10+ years of knowing I didn't want to have someone else responsible for how much money I made every year. Yes, I know, 10+ years is a long time. I did a lot of business start up research over those years and drove my husband nuts with ideas from Herbalife to website development. 

I was turned on to real estate investing, specifically flipping houses, because it seemed to fulfill all my requirements for a new career as my own boss. I want to try to maintain the lifestyle I have accumulated while working my job (that I really don't like anymore) by bringing in close to my current salary. I love doing rehab of any kind (although mudding drywall is my least favorite). I want a flexible schedule without a set amount of vacation days or sick days.

Given all that, my husband and I have saved up about 6 months of our current salary and have various other investment funds. We don't really want to touch our investments (they are doing pretty well after the recession), but the savings is a possible start up source for flipping houses.

I want to quit my job so badly because I have a long commute and I'm not interested in my current career any more. I have a very good salary right now which is the biggest thing keeping me from quitting tomorrow. 

My current situation: I started looking for houses about a year ago now in Lake County, IL. I have been through 3 realtors, 6+ lenders (looking for a renovation loan), 3 inspectors and 2 lawyers. I am in the middle of a pending contract on a house that I'm afraid I am paying to much for. I did my math right, but got in a bidding war and settled for a higher purchase price than I planned for. Now I'm learning my renovation loan (close to a 203k loan without the primary residence requirement) is requiring me to hire contractors for way more than I planned for. That's killing me because I want to do the work myself and I'm cheap :). I think I may have to back out of this deal. That is really discouraging because it puts my goal of quitting my job out even further.

With the demands of 3 kids (2 in sports), 1.5 hour commute each day, and my current job, I'm having a really hard time fitting in starting a new career and business. I'm hoping Bigger Pockets can help keep my spirits up, guide me in the right direction so I don't loose all our savings and maybe even find me a partner/private money to lessen the burden on this newbie.

Sorry for the long post. I tend to ramble on when talking about all this. I am very anxious to get started, but worry I'm still so far from my goals.