Aspiring real estate investor in Monterey Bay, CA area

[Kevin Trumbull]

Hi Everybody.  My name is Kevin Trumbull, I currently reside in Salinas, California, which is in Central California in the Monterey Bay area, about an hour south of the San Francisco Bay area.  I am married and have a 7 month old daughter.  I am brand new to the real estate investing game, and I'm very excited to get started.

I currently work for a security technology company as a Linux System Administrator.  I have been listening to some audio books and the BP podcasts during my long commute, and spend as much of my free time as I can learning as much as I can about real estate investing, mainly via the BP blog posts.

Right now my plan is to buy both single-family and multi-family properties that have positive cash flow with future appreciation potential.  My primary goal right now is to become a Buy & Hold investor, with occasionally flipping properties once I become comfortable with real estate investing.

I'm currently putting aside 20% of my net income to be used for real estate investing (following the 'pay yourself first' revelation that I learned a few months ago), and have a small savings built up.  However based on home prices in my area I'm going to need to use quite a bit of leverage in order to make this work; I have lots to learn about how realistic my Buy & Hold plan is going to work in this market, if at all.

I have tentative plans to move to Oregon in the next year, either in the Eugene or Portland areas.  I have yet to evaluate those markets, but I believe they are a little more favorable to Buy & Hold.

I'm going to start trying to find and analyze deals in my area, if there are any feasible options, and I'm hoping to start networking here on BP and maybe find a deal partner.  I'm also open to investing in areas outside my local market, however I think I need to learn the business before I head down that road.

Anyway, that was a lot.  I'm looking forward to meeting people here in BP and building my knowledge in order to become a successful real estate investor.