New member from Irvine/SoCal, CA

[Ahmed Shamoo]

I've heard great things about this forum (and have been listening to the podcast for a while now) so I figure I'd make my first post and introduce myself. I hope I will learn a lot here and meet new people/friends.

As a recent transplant to Southern California, from New Jersey, I work in the IT industry currently and am doing some (really basic) real estate investing on the side. I don't know too much about it and I'm lucky I haven't made any huge mistakes. I'm an avid cyclist and motorsports enthusiast (automotive, motorcycle, etc) when I have some spare time to myself.

I recently sold my NJ home, which I had rented out for about 2 years. I suppose gets me some "property management" experience since I did everything myself. About 6 months ago, my girlfriend and I went into another investment property local to me. We were probably a bit hasty, but we went in all cash, but we are grossing about $2600/month. Not too bad, but the HOA and Mello Roos aren't fun. Net is ~$18K.

I think the cash flow has given me the real estate investment bug and I want to start building my portfolio. My girlfriend and I are in it for the long haul. It is a serious relationship that will evolve soon. I'm working with multiple analysis tools as well as my own custom one to try and analyze properties to purchase. I haven't really decided (and maybe I don't know what's best for my situation) if I want a conventional loan, portfolio, HELOC, etc. I have about $300K equity in my primary residence and $550K in my rental. Scared to use it, but I know that's what you have to do to get things moving.

I know my immediate area (Irvine, Tustin, etc) relatively well as well as the Central NJ area but that's about it. Looking to move forward on another property with good returns...isn't everyone? :)

Excited to be a part of this group and hope to learn a lot!