Newbie from Austin, Texas with past RE experience

[Cloud Mason]

My name is Cloud Mason. I have lived in Texas my entire life. After a 10 year hiatus from real estate investing, I am interested in advice and assistance in rebuilding my wealth through investment opportunities requiring no or little money down. 

I have a BA in Computer Science from The University of Texas and have worked as a software engineer, project leader, technical manager and systems analyst since the early 1980’s. In 1985, I bought my first home for $64,000.00. It was located in the Crestview neighborhood of what was then considered to be north Austin. As the high-tech industry grew, my career opportunities and income grew as well. For many years I worked as a consultant for IBM and Schlumberger Well Services. After getting married and adopting a newborn baby, I recognized the need for the health and life insurance benefits of a full-time position and hired on with Tandem Computers in 1992 making a six-figure salary. Following in my parent’s footsteps, I went to real estate night school and invested in several residential properties in Central Austin, remodeling and flipping some of the properties and retaining a few for rental income. I also invested in my wife’s dream and we opened a high-end preschool, which she managed.

Things were going great until a series of cascading life challenges fell upon the family. In 1996 at the age of four, my son was diagnosed with a neurological condition referred to as high-functioning autism. Treatment programs were pursued with vigor leaving little time to manage the preschool, which my wife unexpectedly closed, to my great surprise and at a great financial loss. Understanding that we could likely weather the monetary storm using the $150,000 in equity in our home, we were next stricken with respiratory and other health issues. The source of our health problems was determined to be toxic black mold, ultimately resulting in the total loss of our home and the equity on which we were depending. If all of this wasn’t bad enough, my job was outsourced to India just prior to the “dot-com” bust leaving me and thousands of others unemployed. I sold my investment properties to pay off my debts and provide basic income to support my family yet the job market did not recover fast enough to avoid bankruptcy. Like many others in my age group, I landed a state job. I was hired by The University of Texas’ Astronomy Department where I continue to work as a Senior Systems Analyst. Although I have good benefits and a much better salary than the average state worker, his family medical bills, bankruptcy and divorce have left me with virtually no savings. It’s been 10 years since the bankruptcy and I have been rebuilding my credit and am chomping at the bit to get back into real estate to establish higher income, rebuild my savings and develop a trust for the future care of my son who continues to struggle with everyday life.

Cloud Mason