*New* Member from Tustin, CA (OC)

[Larry Im]

Hi everyone, 

I've been a lurker on BP for a little while, I should introduce myself.  I'm currently a corporate  IT geek who had been exclusively chasing the corporate 'dream' for the last 15 years.  I recall reading 'Rich Dad, Poor' dad 10 years ago and thought it was a load of junk. I was so drunk on the corporate Kool-aid, oops!  Last year that dream became reality and I realized it was just an endless loop of futility with minimal returns in personal achievement or wealth generation.  Not to mention that lifestyle seemed to justify a high expense rate to keep up with the Jones.  I now realize that being older and physically working from SoCal as a tech geek will be very difficult as I age (I'm 40 now).

Although my parents have been successful real estate investors from the time that I was born, I wanted to chart my own path of success. For my first home, I did not heed their repeated advice to live where you rent (househack). Back then, that just didn't fit in with the aspirations of a dotcom tech geek. Instead, I chose to take on a over-sized mortgage with a nice car in the garage. Some say that experience is the best education; I'd say that I now have a masters degree in that area. :) I plan on leveraging my parents experience with REI, but build upon their advice and add scalability to take it to the next level.

I now see the light with REI. I'm a podcast junkie with BP, askBP and Real Wealth Network. I want to be in the buy and hold arena for the long haul. With the lessons from the previous recession on my mind, I'm hesitant to jump into my first property. I'm realizing that are loads of data and an infinite way to interpret them, but at some point I need to take action. I do feel that I'm learning from the experiences of others (thanks BPers!) and preparing my finances waiting for that day...

Tonight, it'll be my first time joining a local REI club. Pretty excited to meet and learn from others. My goal is to work my primary job until I can make REI my primary source of income. I welcome ANY advice and perspective that you can give. If you're in OC, I would greatly welcome your time to do a face to face and learn from you.

Thanks!

Larry