Full-Time Teacher New to Real Estate, DFW area, Texas

[Ashley Wolfe]

Hello,

My name is Ashley Wolfe and I'm a full time elementary school teacher, wife, and mother of a 15 month old.  I live in the DFW metroplex and have for the last 8 years.  I'm a Texas native, born and raised in Houston, but have lived in Hawaii and the Philippines in my college and early teaching careers.

My husband and I bought what we discovered was a fixer-upper back in 2012 and we've been slowly updating and renovating.  During the early days, weeks, and months of living in this house, I would curse the name of not only my real estate agents but the lady who oversaw the project of a house that was falling apart in front of our very eyes.  Made me think that it sure would be nice to get into fully renovating homes (instead of just painting over peeling paint and lying on the seller disclosure about all of the problems that we soon found, like replacing the entire main line in the first two weeks of living here) and selling them to people KNOWING that we were selling them a top-quality home that is truly move-in ready.  That would make me feel so good because I'd be preventing the sour feelings of someone moving into a house that had all the cosmetic touches but none of the real work completed.

I'm learning as much as I can about real estate through BP, cheap Kindle books, YouTube videos, etc.  My husband and I know that we cannot, through our careers alone, save enough for retirement.  We also don't feel like investing in the stock market is really the game we want to play.  So we are turning to real estate.

I'm currently working my way through the BP podcasts in every spare moment I have between working full-time, being a mom, and running my side business.  (Its craft show season and I dye, spin yarn, and knit apparel and accessories.  I love it, and I actually make money doing it.  Score!)

Each new podcast brings about new feelings of excitement about that particular subject.  For example, I just finished Episode 10 which talked about flipping houses, which just last week I was doubting I'd ever ever EVER do.  The information was so pertinent and informative that I started to think, "Man, I COULD do this!"  So I'm going through what I'm sure TONS of beginners go through... I want to do it all and it changes each day.

One of my specific questions involves creative income.  I'd like to know what you think of buying and renting parking spaces, boat slips, etc. so that the rent check is not the only means of making the mortgage payment on a buy and hold.

Thanks!

Ashley Wolfe