Newbie RE investor with big goals

[Jeffrey Gignac]

I am new to Bigger Pockets and was thrilled to hear that such a community existed. Like many folks on this site and on the podcast, my eyes were opened to the idea of "streams of income" outside of your 9-5 day job through Rich Dad, Poor Dad. My first exposure to RE investing came in highschool when my Dad bought a rental property, but quickly moved into the flipping as the larger pay-days enticed him.

Fast forward several years and I am graduating from Virginia Tech and ony my way to becoming a CPA working in a public accounting practice in my hometown. I lived at home to stock away cash for a few years and with this money was able to invest in 2 houses that my Dad was flipping. At this point he had about 40 successful deals under his belt so they were great, low-risk ways to get exposure to all of the ins and outs of turning a ruined piece of property into something more valuable. Flipping has never interested me though as it is a job and not passive so this leads into my first rental deal.

I bought my first house (3 bedroom, 1 bath) in 2012 originally intended to be a personal residence. The property was essentially a floor, four walls and a roof as the inside was uninhabitable. I purchased the property for $70K and have put another 50K into it. My personal situation changed and no longer had need for my own personal residence so this property instantly became a great rental opportunity.

Since September of 2012, this property has been rented out for $900/ month with a mortgage of $401/ month. There have been virtually no repair calls as EVERYTHING was replaced and fixed before tenants moved into the property. The higher than average rental rate does most of the tenant screening for me, although I still used a background and credit check upon landing my first and only tenant in this property (same tenant since 2012). The monthly free cash flow (FCF) get plowed back into paying off mortgage debt and also toward a reserve fund.

I am completely new to bigger pockets and learned about the community through the poscast which I also stumbled into after not finding very many good RE investing podcasts. I am currently on the hunt for my second buy and hold deal and plan to journal everything on this site as a record for myself in addition to maybe being valuable to another BP member. I am excited to jump into all of the forums, articles and community as a whole!!!

Jeff Gignac