New member/investor in Atlanta

[Christopher Henesy]

Hey Everyone!

My name is Chris Henesy, and I'm a 38 year old Atlanta native, Georgia Tech grad, husband and father of two living in east Cobb County.  I currently work full time as a senior technical program manager for a very well known internet firm whose products you probably use every day.

I became an accidental landlord back in 2008 when I transferred to Charleston, SC for a couple of years before relocating back to Atlanta, but I've been interested in real estate in general for a long time.  My first job was as a "gopher" for a local general contractor, and I spent a summer helping finish basements and build decks for people.  My wife and I bought our current house as a short sale when we relocated back to Atlanta and spent the last 3 years doing a basement to roof renovation, doing some of the work ourselves and acting as our own GC for the rest. My father in law in a developer in north Georgia and I often talk about the industry with him as well, and I've read the majority of the more popular business and real estate investment books over the last few years, but never really did anything with the knowledge.

I've recently taken stock of where I am in my career and decided that it's time for me to start "Minding my own business" (as Rich Dad would say) and I'm ready to move from thinking and dreaming about real estate investment to actually taking some action!

I signed up for Bigger Pockets a few weeks ago and have spent about 3 hours a day listening to podcasts and another 1-2 reading the forums, browsing the real estate sites and playing with the various calculators trying to make sure I understand the fundamentals around how to identify a good deal.

So basically at this point I probably know just enough to be dangerous. :)

I think the next step for me is to start trying to find that first deal, and so as a first step towards that goal I'm introducing myself here.  At this point I think I'm primarily interested in buy and hold investing in single and multi family homes in the Atlanta Metro, (though I would love to hear from some local BP members on what strategies work better/worse in the current Atlanta market) and I am looking to utilize BP to make contacts and to help me build my team.

Looking forward to meeting new people and engaging with the BP community over the coming months!