New Member from San Diego Area

[Matthew Best]

Hello BP Community!

I just want to say how excited I am to have found this online community and to thank everyone who contributes their experiences and knowledge in an honest manner to help others here.

I joined a few weeks ago after selling my first home and realizing that my life has changed forever and my dream of becoming financially independent is going to be achieved through real estate investing of some sort. Right now I feel a bit like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole since until recently my idea of real estate investing was pretty narrow. I have found so many sources of info on BP such as webinars, books, forum threads, etc. that it seems like I will be in R&D mode for some time but that’s okay, I love to learn and am too conservative to buy my next property until I know exactly what I want to do. It’s exciting!

My story is that I managed to buy an old condo (all original 1972) on short sale back in ’09 and lived there for seven years while working full time plus side jobs to try to get a little ahead of the game. I knew it was a good buy back then but it was mostly a side project to live in and fix up while working my “real” job. I had the 10K first time homebuyers tax credit and 9K in down payment/closing cost assistance from the city which was forgiven after 6 years and I was determined to stick it out. Fast forward seven years and I doubled my money on that place and my life has changed so drastically I can barely believe it… all those years of paying dues and working my butt off feel like they have finally paid off. I finished the complete remodel and thoroughly enjoyed the process and now I know that’s what I want to do the rest of my life… it’s the best combination of investing, being independent/self-employed, and taking pride in your work as anything I’ve ever known and it’s been one of the most valuable experiences of my life in more ways than one!

I’m not looking to get rich quick or become a millionaire… just want to live a long happy life doing the things I love with people I love without worrying about money or retirement.

Thanks again to all of the sincere people who contribute here, I can’t wait to start the rest of my life!