New member currently stationed in Alaska

[Shane Miller]

Hey everyone! I'm stoked I found this resource, this site is gold. In short, I was born and raised in California and joined the military in the year 2012 after 2 years of college. I am currently stationed in AK and will be getting out in 2017 to finish my bachelors degree at ASU. I have been very blessed to not have to pay for much thanks to the military. Due to this fortunate opportunity I have saved a small sum of money that sits in my bank with a depressingly-low dividend rate. I was introduced to real estate investing by a brilliant officer I met during my deployment in 2014-2015. He blew my mind with knowledge that was way above my head for about 5 hours. I was extremely interested in everything he was saying, although I didn't understand 50% of what he was saying, I nodded as if I did so he would continue preaching. He recommended the books "Rich dad poor dad" and "Cashflow Quadrant". I bought them and read through them thoroughly. I am in the middle of "The book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner. I love how it's broken down barney-style. I am absolutely terrified to buy my first property, but am eager to learn and understand mistakes will be made which goes hand-in-hand with growing.

The only real estate properties I've bought are in Monopoly.

I've always been very family-oriented, which is ironic that I felt drawn to the military... which is probably the least family-orientated occupation offered in America. My goals are to achieve enough cash flow to be able to make my own schedule and spend time with my family. My parents were always able to make it to my sport games, and I would like to be able to do that for my future children as well. I would also like to be able to take a small vacation once a year with the wife/ family.

I'm just a sponge trying to soak it all up. I own a GoPro and enjoy making small video edits. I live in the Anchorage area, so if anyone needed some footage of a nearby home I'd love to help in exchange for some knowledge. 

Cheers,

Shane

[Scott Sewell]

Welcome Shane,

I agree about the value of this site. Although I might argue that it's more platinum than gold. 

Seriously, I learned as much here in one year of reading and interacting as I did in 5 years of doing it myself (with my wife, that is).

Again welcome, and check out the REX (Real Estate Exchange) meetings on "Meet up", I believe there's one coming up next week.

Good Luck! and good investments to all!

Scott