New member

[Chris Lynch]

Hi my name is Chris, my wife and I are very new to the world of investing. I'm currently active duty military and our niche is rental properties for military young, singles/new families (do what we know). We leverage VA benefits and military housing to acquire properties and have a safety net in the process.

We got the bug for houses years ago but never acted, lack of knowledge, fear, and naysayers held us back. As far as our backgrounds, I was a handyman/landscaper before the military, and my wife was a rental manager (I got most of my trade through her). 

Our first property was a family home, we paid 90%MV, it desperately needed up dating, after a $20K  - plus my sweat - reno on the inside it looks brand new, outside is still the same, but there's no work needed. 

Biggest thing I learned on my first: play hardball, pay less or walk away, always inspect the property yourself (if possible) or get a second opinion, choose a good realtor. We were new, and very uneducated, we let the realtor (highly recommended to us) supply an inspector. Now I would not recommend the realtor or inspector to my worst enemy. Both were in cahoots and steam rolled me, additionally the realtor was very unprofessional.

 The both cost me time and money. Property needed major water damage repair inside (luckily is was very recent and white water), had I known,  and it would have cut the purchase price down to 60%MV. I tried taking them to court, but didn't because I was sick of them both, I swallowed it a lesson learned, repair the damage and moved forward. Apart from that, its a great rental with an indefinite supply of tenants. My second property is a 2 bed apartment, that one was sound, just needed paint and light fixtures updated. Now we're looking to get a third, though it's different (niche and area). The tenant would be my mom, there's a vacant house (3 years) on her street, identical to her house just with a garage, she wants the garage. If I can acquire it, she'll rent it for the mortgage price, and let me keep whatever profit I can squeeze out of the sale of her house, its a win-win for me because i'll have a no hassle tenant for the next few years, make so money from her sale, and until she decides to move, she's putting equity in my pocket. Though first step, get the place.

Family and friends still think we're crazy, but more frequently ask questions and for "our thoughts". 

We try to learn and grow everyday, and we know BP is a great source and tool to help us do this.

Thank you,