Newbie (kinda-sorta!) from eastern Pennsylvania

[Mike R.]

Hello, Bigger Pockets! So happy to be here. I joined a few weeks ago and am really impressed with the site.

So, a little bit about me ... here’s why I’m a “kinda-sorta” newbie.

I first began investing in 2003-2004, around age 30. Read the books, joined the local investing club, attended a (way-too-expensive) bootcamp, even got a real estate license. I bought a duplex from a fellow investor, which I still have. Then I bought a vacant 5-unit building that I rehabbed, rented to college students for a couple years, and sold.

My third deal was a SFH that I rehabbed with the intention of flipping it. I made every. newbie. mistake. in the book, starting with the fact that I was way too anxious to do a deal and wound up paying far too much -- in a market I didn't know nearly enough about. Long story short, the house finally sold 18 months later, and I took a HUGE loss. That shook me to the core and I got out of the game.

Now I’m a decade older, a decade wiser (hopefully!), and I’m ready to start again. This time I intend to be far more conservative. With kids heading to college in a few years, I’m definitely at an age where I can’t afford to make the same mistakes twice.

I'm not that sophisticated. I like what I can understand. For me, that means flipping houses and plowing the profits into 2-4 unit apartment buildings.

That’s all for now!

Mike