Newbie from Bloomington, Indiana

[Cory Gardner]

Hey there everyone!  I'm thrilled to have stumbled upon this site whilst doing some research on the real estate industry.  I was in the process of deciding whether to spend a few hundred dollars to get some basic knowledge on investing when I saw this site, sort of overlooked it thinking, "meh, biggerpockets - what could they know that this $300 program doesn't?"  Glad I came and took a second look around.

Skip down to the bold-type words if you want the tl;dr version...

Anyway, I'm Cory.  Originally from Fort Wayne area however I've been living in Bloomington, IN while I attend Indiana University.  I'll be graduating this December with Psychology B.A. and Cognitive Science minor.

Real estate has been an increasingly itchy bug I've discovered in the back of my mind ever since going to college.  It was always a bit too big of an industry for me to try and take a stab at or even understand how it worked.  One day I got fed up with my ignorance (as well as hearing several of my mentors gab about the several condos they'd been investing in), sat down and started googling anything I could.

That puts me here, now.  I'm just a kid with a dream to become an investor.  I appreciate the idea of making my money work hard for me rather than working hard for money.  Don't mistake that as my generations mentality that I can be a lazy punk, looking to make a quick buck hustling potatoes.

I read two books a month, I spend no less than 1-hr/day listening/watching/reading content relative to my passions; business, health & nutrition, real estate.  As a side note I'm apart of a social marketing business that's been the single most beneficial experience to building my business acumen, social skills, and entrepreneurial mindset.

Why I'm here.

I written down a few goals I've created to give me a point to shoot towards.  By the end of 2016 I'd like to have completed no less than one wholesale deal and have purchased a buy & hold property that I can rehab.  The sooner I can fulfill these two things the better.  Long term (next 2 years) I want to own anywhere from 5 to 10 cash flow properties and have an average of 4-5 deals going through per year. Super long term (5-10 yrs) I want to go international and get some commercial deals under my belt.

I've asked my previous landlord here in Bloomington to mentor me through this process - he owns ~28 properties in the area, has had 0 vacancies for 25 years, and has a clear entrepreneurial mindset.  He's given me some basic things to start doing in order to prepare for purchasing properties.

On another note, and maybe the deeper meaning behind me coming here I have no capital.  I have one linear, part-time income barely cutting it for my living expenses and I'm looking to increase this to two linear incomes, temporarily.  I've considered going ahead and getting my realtors license and working for a broker for a few years to save up funds - but I'm still exploring options.

Current plan.

As of now I'm focusing on three main directives: become familiar with industry lingo/terms, reap the maximum amount of knowledge from free resources via BP podcasts, forums, the UBG, etc. and most importantly save cash so I can start investing ASAP. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to welcome me to this community and I apologize for the short novel.

Cory