getting started in Virginia

[David Van den Berg]

Thanks to a friend, I was able to attend two of three days of a recent Nick Vertucci training. 

I did not buy the five figure course, and don't plan to anytime soon, if ever. The friend who took me as his guest did at an earlier three day training he went to without me there. I am not partnering with him - he is taking all the risk and will get all the reward. I would not have made the choice he did, and have told him that, but apart from that I haven't been critical of him, I've simply been trying to protect myself and make sure I get space to go about this on my time and in my way. I am rooting for him - I hope for his sake it works out. 

The main thing that held me back, aside from the cost, is that I lack discipline in my financial and credit management, and need to address and change that before I attempt high level real estate investing - by that which I mean anything more than bird dogging (which the Vertucci instructors told me not to bother with because I would be underestimating my worth, a concept I found absurd for reasons I'll explain in a moment) or maybe, very basic assignment of contract transactions. There were some useful details offered at the training on that and some other concepts, and once I develop discipline and maturity to manage my finances and credit effectively on a consistent basis I see the validity of real estate investing as one part of an overall financial plan. I will not under any circumstances treat this as a get rich quick plan - there's no such thing, really. 

I have had bad experience with real estate which is entirely self-inflicted. I moved to Phoenix in 2004 for a job and at the urging of and with help from family bought a condo. I planned to stay and build my life there. But I handled the condo very stupidly (I basically treated it as an ATM and lived above my means) and then had a job loss. I had to rent it out for 2 years while living in Virginia and then did a short sale after the tenant left. One of many mistakes I made with this was not taking a first time homebuyer class and getting any other basic education in real estate. I do see the opportunity to learn about real estate investing now as one piece of finally learning about real estate generally. I don't want to forever be afraid of real estate and just stick to studio apartments or roommate situations my entire life, but I cannot make the same mistake I did in Phoenix either. 

So, I plan to focus on improving my financial management and retiring debt first, and as I do that, read and very slowly start to build up a network in real estate investing through attending meetings of local real estate investor clubs in Northern Virginia and DC, interacting online here and other places, and maybe bird dog stuff in my area for investors to get comfortable with investing and build contacts ( think there is value in using bird dogging as the first step to building a foundation in investing, which is why I think the Vertucci people were wrong to tell me not to do it) and then move to the assignment of contract/paper flip/basic wholesaling stuff. 

While I had at best a mixed experience with the course I am thankful for my friend taking me, because of what I had a chance to learn (both from the course and about the course and the company offering it) and for the wake up call to get my finances in order. Real estate investing is something I'll work towards doing and look forward to getting more involved in over time. 

This site and community seem really wonderful and I look forward to getting a lot from it. Thanks to all!