Newbie from Adamstown, MD

[Bryan Potts]

Hey fellow BP members!

My name is Bryan Potts and I currently reside in Adamstown, MD (just south of Frederick, MD). I grew up and went to high school in Poolesville, MD (which is another small town) that is located in Montgomery County outside of DC. After high school, I joined the U.S. Air Force and spent time outside of Maryland, but eventually gravitated back once my enlistment was up after 6 years. I'm currently working as a Systems Engineer for a satellite communications company, which was my expertise in the Air Force. 

I've had an interest in real estate investing going on probably 10+ years, but have succumbed to the dreaded "analysis paralysis" and never pursued anything further other than reading several books and websites/blogs. Hopefully that time is now to push through the paralysis and take action! I have however purchased and sold a townhouse that was my primary residence for a few years, helped my wife renovate and sell her townhouse, and we just recently (within the past year) purchased a SFH that we live in with our kids.

My main interests are buy & hold properties, with perhaps doing the occasional flip on the side. I really enjoyed the "before & after" of my wife's townhouse and how beautiful it looked when we were all done with the work, and I think I would really like that aspect of any investing going forward whether it's from flipping, or rehabbing a rental property. My ultimate goal is to one day either have enough cash flow to be able to "retire" from my normal 9-5 job and do REI full time, or at least be able to have a sustainable cash flow for retirement. 

[Russell Brazil]

Welcome to BP @Bryan Potts. Everyone has succumbed to analysis paralysis at the beginning of their investing adventure. At some point you just have to push through and jump in. And you know what...you are going to make mistakes...you will do something dumb. But doing things wrong is actually the best education you can have.  You learn from your mistakes and move on.

But further to the point of the analysis paralysis. I always try to point out to my clients that the numbers are never what you think they will be on any single property. The numbers will be better, or they will be worse.....but they are never, ever what you think they will be. They will never be what some spreadsheet spits out. Over a large portfolio of properties averages on repairs and cap-ex may have a certain number...but over a sample size of one, you just never know.