New to BP from South Jersey - focusing on Wilmington, Delaware

[James Masotti]

Good Morning Everyone,

I'm currently on vacation up in Boston and am having a bunch of time to catch up on reading, emails, and finally posting on BP. I've been listening to a lot of the awesome Podcasts as I drive around, and they're definitely helpful. I've really enjoyed reading Mark Ferguson's blog www.investfourmore.com as well as some great stuff on Brandon Turner's blog www.realestateinyourtwenties.com, Ben Leybovich's blog justaskbenwhy.com is on my radar to check out as well. I'm sure there are a lot of other great ones out there that I look to discover as well. Let me know what your favorites are in the comments! I've just checked out Rich Dad, Poor Dad from my local library to read as it seems to have played a critical role in kickstarting a lot of people's real estate ventures. 

As the title indicates I currently live in South Jersey, but plan to focus my real estate efforts in Wilmington, Delaware where I already own one single family rental and for some reason that I can't fully explain like the market and opportunity there so I have decided to stay in that market...for now. 

My goal is to acquire 1-4 unit properties. I have great financing lined up that will allow me to hold 10 properties at a time, however my goal would be to limit my risk exposure to 5 properties at a time, and to use the cash flow as well as income from my W2 job to pay down those mortgages on those properties and slowly grow my portfolio to 10 properties in the next 5-7 years. While definitely not part of my initial strategy I am also open to a broader area, to do the occasional flip to grow my cash reserves or expedite paying down the mortgages I'll be holding. 

My wife and I are a bit risk adverse and have some personal debt (student loans and car payments) we are also looking to manage. I'd love input from others on how to manage paying down personal debts while also to trying to grow your real estate business. 

I'll wrap up this longer then expected post by thanking all the great contributors to BP, while only just now posting I have been lurking for awhile and have a lot of questions answered, and probably just as many questions raised from my research. I definitely have a long road to go, but am glad to have a great resource and community like BP to have along for the ride. 

All the Best!

James