Hi from central NC!

[Jo Shaw]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking here as well as listening to podcasts since 2012...so I thought I was beyond time to introduce myself. I'm Jo Beth from a little town outside of Greensboro NC. My goal is to utilize real estate investing to replace our current income and allow us greater freedom to set our own schedules, travel, spend time together. 

I'm currently practicing dental hygiene part-time (2 days each week), and while I LOVE what I do, the physical strain of my career has begun to take it's toll after 14+ years. I would also like the financial freedom real estate investing offers. My husband and I have owned and managed a single family property for 5 years as well as a vacant 5 acre lot that I'm currently debating how to best utilize. I'm leaning towards buy and hold investing long term with an ambitious goal of acquiring 10 properties in 5 years. A more realistic goal would be 5-7 properties, which would still allow us to replace my husband's income. 

Recently, I have been weighing the pro's and con's of securing a license to practice real estate to:

1-eliminate the middle man provide better access to the MLS. Over the past 2 weeks I have located 4 proprieties which exceeded our minimum investing requirements...all 4 of which were under contract before we had an opportunity to make an offer. We were actually loading the car to walk through one when the agent we were working with messaged me. C'est la vie.

2-Utilize my free time. I love my relaxed schedule and the freedom it offers, but I feel as though I should be spending less time sipping tea and reading detective novels and more time acquiring wealth.

3-Generate more 'disposable' income to put towards investing. 

So many decisions...I'm grateful I have such a wealth of information on this site!