New Member from Virginia

[Frank G.]

Hello my name is Frank an I'm in the Northern Virginia area. My wife and I started our Real-estate journey a little over a two years ago when we bought our first townhouse. We purposely bought a property that was well under our budget and was a fixer-upper. We spent the following year slowly working on it until we got it where we wanted it to be. Once we had done that, we decided it was time to buy a SFH for us to live in as we wanted some more space. Since the numbers worked (rental income was more then our expenses) I convinced my wife that It would be a good idea to not sell the townhouse, but to keep it and rent it out, as I had seen through research that real estate could be a great investment vehicle. Fast forward to the present, and we have been landlords for just under a year and we have had a positive experience. We did our research when selecting a tenant and it paid off as they have been great, although the year has not been without its difficulties as we have dealt with burst pipes which caused a flooded basement, and A/C and electrical issues; but all in all we dealt with it in stride.

Sorry for being long winded, but I thought it would be a good idea to give a little background as to where Im coming from. 

I have been reading the forums and listing to the podcasts for a while now, and I am finally introducing myself because I want to joint the community here and gain more experience and insite into the world of real estate investing. I see the benefit for expanding our real estate portfolio, but we are kind of unsure how to continue. I am interested in fix and flip and buy and hold investing, and financing. Thanks!