New member from San Diego, CA

[Russell M.]

Hi everyone at Bigger Pockets!

I'm Russell.  Honestly, this feels a little bit like a Real Estate Dating website.  Anyway, here goes.  As my profile indicates, I am located in So Cal.  I have investment property both here and in the Midwest.

I've owned property since 2003.  It has not been an overwhelmingly positive experience, but it has definitely been educational.  For that reason, I wouldn't change much, except the lack of profitability.  I've learned a lot along the way about property management and dealing with property managers.  I'm a fan of doing a lot of work myself, and tend to take a hands on approach to my properties.  

My goals at this point are to divest myself of some perennially unprofitable properties, and turn the remaining ones so they are firmly in the black.  Since I somewhat backed into the real estate investing arena, I don't have some of the deeper analytic knowledge to help evaluate future properties.  I would like to broaden my knowledge in those directions.

At this point, I'm not immediately interesting in acquiring new properties, but would like to in the future.  If/when that happens, I would be interested in either residential or commercial property, which would be an entirely new learning experience.

As for Bigger Pockets, the wealth of knowledge here is damned impressive.  I'm eager to tap the well, and if I can contribute something, so much the better.