Newbie from Greeley, Colorado

[Morgan Wallace]

Hello, BP!

My name is Morgan Wallace, and I am here working to become a Real Estate Entrepreneur. My goal in real estate is to eventually build up enough passive income to overtake my active income (biomedical engineer), then maybe I can call myself an investor. My focus is buy-and-hold, with the first few years of investing in single-family, develop and season my systems, then begin to grow into multi-family and end up in small and medium apartments. I came to join BP after listening to the podcast (on repeat), and just love what Josh and Brandon are doing there.

I'm not totally inexperienced in owning a rental, but consider myself to be a beginner. My parents and I co-signed on a townhouse in 2005 when I was in college, then watched pitifully as the market dropped out from under it. We bought it so overpriced that when I moved out and rented it, we subsidized the mortgage. My parents were ever-reluctant to sell as they both live in communities relatively insulated from the recession, and have a hard time accepting selling it at a loss.

Enough was enough, I decided. That's what brought me to the podcast to being with. Episode 80 with Jonna Weber, where she discussed the property on which she and her family had to take a loss, told me that we weren't the only ones that made a mistake, and that there were ways out. 

Long story longer, we refinanced the townhouse at the current low interest rate for the remaining loan balance, over a new 30-year term, and did a quit-claim deed. Now I am the only name on the house, and have it rented for a modest, but positive cash flow.

Determined not to have a bad experience be my only one. and convinced that real estate is a great investment when done right, I'm ready to get into it for real. My mantra will be: equity is the icing on the cake; cash flow is the goal.

Thanks, BP for a great site, and can't wait to be a part of the community,

Morgan

[Paul Timmins]

@Morgan Wallace

Welcome. 

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and rehabbers (cash buyers). Find them through Google and meetup.com

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good Luck

Paul