Newbie to the forums!

[Bret Emry]

Hello BP family, my name is Bret and I'm from the Spokane, WA area. I am a mechanical engineer by trade. I'm 29, married with one kid and one on the way. I own my home, and I am fairly new to the investing game, but want to start jumping in. I'm sure I will have lots of questions as a newbie so I hope to lean on others here for advice and support. I have listened to almost all the podcasts, read RDPD, Millionaire RE Investor, and a few other investing / landlording books.

My situation is a bit unique for several reasons. Thie first is that I bought my house from my grandprents (the house I was born in, crazy enough) with a handshake. They owned it free and clear so we agreed on $120K, no interest. I wouldn't have been able to afford to buy a house, but I just started making $800/mo payments, slightly more than I was paying to rent a 3/2. I was pretty green and had no idea how RE transactions worked. I didn't even know you could sell your house that easily.

Since the house was transferred with a quit claim deed, we were targeted with a yellow letter. I thought it was scammy at first, but thought whoever it was would possibly be a good resource for deals. I pulled the yellow letter out of the trash and called the 1-800 number. I don't even remember what the recording was because we were not interested in selling. Got a call the next day and the gentleman was nice and seemed genuine and asked if I would like to meet up. I said sure, thinking this would be a relationship that may benefit me only YEARS down the road. After touring their business (which consisted of walking through houses in varying condition: under contract all the way up to rehabbed and on the market), I was quite impressed and wanted to get involved somehow. I have since invested private money with this house flipper.

Backing up a little bit... since the house is techically free and clear, I have been able to access 100K in a HELOC which is secured by the house. I took 60K of this and have been funding rehabs with the same flipper at 30K a piece. My wife and I have been very happy with the cash flow from the investments and really like the folks we're working with, but I may want to start doing something more long term with this money.

My thought right now is that I would like to take the 60K (used some of the 100K to consolidate some other debt) and buy a distressed property (for cash... possibly at auction or a HUD home, or REO, probate, driving for dollars, or ...) then move into it, rent out our primary, rehab the cheap place and do a cash out refinance. I would then put the money back into the HELOC until I was able to do it again. Does this sound like a viable strategy that can be multiplied? Has anyone tried this same strategy (with or without the HELOC) and want to share their experience?

Another option is to purchase a multi-family and occupy one of the units. I'm sure there is no shortage of opinions on what may kick-start a long-term buy and hold RE career faster. Anyone want to share?

Also, can someone let me know if I would be better off asking these questions separately in different forums?

Sorry this is so lengthy, so thanks for making it down this far!

PS - I am very handy, pretty good with people, level-headed, and I think landlording is something I think I can be good at.

Bret