Hello from Royal Oak, Michigan (Detroit Metro area)

[Jennifer Streamer]

Hello Bigger Pockets community.  I'm looking forward to being part of the conversation :-) 

I've been reading all of the great info here on Bigger Pockets and listening to the podcasts for a few months and have learned so much about real estate investing.  What a fantastic site!  I'm so grateful that I stumbled on it.

My husband, our six month old, our two year old and I live in Royal Oak, Michigan.  We both work full time.  He's an engineer.  I work in educational software.  We both love our jobs - and we love real estate, too!

Besides our own home , we own a condo in Warren, Michigan that was my husband's home prior to our marriage. We started renting it out right after we got married and it's been a great experience.  We got lucky.  We posted the place on Craigslist and the first potential tenants walked in and said that they needed to move in ASAP because their current landlord was poisoning their cats.  We didn't run a credit check or verify employment.  We just let them move in the next day (along with the cats!).  We had them sign a lease that we'd scanned out of a "big book of legal documents".  7 years later, I can say they have been perfect tenants.  But we'll be more careful in the future.  We won't have that kind of luck twice, I'm sure ;-)

We have been talking about investing in more real estate for a few years but we were distracted by having babies.  This winter, while I was on maternity leave, we decided that it was time to take action.  Looking at houses became a regular family activity.  We had a offer accepted on a nice little sfh in Royal Oak two weeks ago and will be closing in a few weeks. We anticipate around $200 per month in cash flow after accounting for all expenses, vacancy, etc.

Our goal is to acquire a few properties a year with an overall goal of around 20-30 properties and $100,000 in annual cash flow by the time we retire in 20 years or so.  15-18 years from now, we hope the cash flow will cover the kid's college expenses.  In the short term we plan to put the cash toward future property purchases.

In the very short term, we hope to successfully rent out our new property and learn all we can here on Bigger Pockets!  One of our major areas of exploration is WHERE in metro Detroit to invest.  Lower priced communities with higher cash flow (Warren, Madison Heights, Roseville, St. Clair Shores, Oak Park or Downriver) or whether to stick with the higher priced communities because of ease of renting out the properties.

It's a pleasure to meet all of you!

[Jennifer Streamer]

Originally posted by @Jeff Rabinowitz:

@Jennifer Streamer, I'd like to offer another welcome. We are fortunate in SE Michigan because there are a lot of active RE investors and several regular meetings. As you know, RO is a very hot market right now. I have participated in a couple profitable new construction and rehab projects near downtown and expect to do, at least, a couple more. An investor with your experience as a landlord will always be a welcome addition at the REIA meetings. Don't hesitate to reach out if I might be of any assistance.

There is so much activity in Royal Oak. Every week we see the new construction activity as we walk around the neighborhood. I hope to meet you in person at a future REIA meeting!