Yes, another new Columbus, OH. member!

[Sean Dawson]

Good Day all!  First off I have to say how glad I am to find this place.  The depth of knowledge and willingness to help, answer questions and give pointers is fantastic.  I realize I am behind the 8 ball a little bit here, but listening to the podcasts, lurking in the forums, reading the ultimate guide has really brought my wife and I up to speed.

So lets get to the nitty gritty of the introduction.  I bought a duplex near Capitol Univ. right after graduating from OSU and lived in part and rented out the other.  Learning how to manage the mortgage (at 12% at the time!), deal with the tenants I acquired with the property, repair everything I could and not hate raman noodles (didn't have any money re: 12% loan and lower paying job) was very enlightening.  Of course I could only see that after I was able to refinance a year later.  

My wife, who was unknown to me at the time, did the same thing around OSU's campus.  She had a better paying job so there was no raman for her!  She is the reason we are here today.

Fast forward 15 years later we have (read, she poked and prodded until I took the bit and ran with it) decided to expand our holdings from those 2 duplex's and acquire more buy and hold rentals.  We would like to be able to work for ourselves and have passive income from our current and future rentals that we can replace our current salaries.  

From learning how to run the numbers, how to locate properties, how to vet a property management company and learning about alternative funding to break thru the 4 property mortgage limit (per person) we seem to have here in Columbus, Bigger Pockets has been a great help.  I did not realize how big until we went to a local real estate investment club where the principal was very impressed with it's self ( pronoun changed to not prejudice future meeting attendees) and offered to teach us for a low, low price plus 50% of the profits or a low, low price which was half way to a decent flip property with no profit split.

The meeting wasn't all bad though, we did get the chance to network with some decent people.

So thanks again!

TLDR: high interest rate, raman, wife set direction, expand property, guru bad, freedom, profit!

Sean