New to Real Estate and New to Asheville, NC

[Mark Sossoman]

I am a public school teacher of 17 years who will soon be moving to Asheville, NC. My family and I currently love living near Morganton, NC (approx 1 hour east of Asheville), but we also couldn't be more excited about our upcoming move. My wife, who is a former teacher herself, recently started a new career in Human Resources. About a month ago, she landed a fantastic job in Asheville, which is the reason for the move. We have always loved Asheville and knew that we wanted to move there someday, but we figured it would be much later down the road.

Our long term plan has been to transition us both out of our teaching careers, and into ones that will provide more financially stability and opportunities for our family. Through much research, I have decided that real estate seems to be one of the most financially viable options for me that wouldn’t involve going back to college for a new degree. I have enrolled in a pre-licensing course that I will attend on the weekends from mid-October through mid-November that will allow me to continue teaching while I become a licensed agent. Once I have obtained my license and we have found a house in Asheville, we will be moving and I will start working initially as an agent. Long term, I hope to either continue working as an agent as I gradually become involved in investing, or to possibly even become a full-time investor at some point in the future.

I attended the September CREIA – Carolina REIA – meeting in Asheville, and I'm planning on becoming very involved with that organization. If there's anyone in the Asheville area who happens to read this post and would be willing to pass along any advice/suggestions/tips, or would be interested in meeting to discuss the Asheville flipping, wholesaling, rental markets, I would welcome any and all of the above!