New member intro - Boston investor

[Brian Fitzgerald]

Hi - my name is Brian and I caught the real estate bug in 2012 after a good friend of mine explained how he was house-hacking. I did a lot of reading and research, went to open houses almost every weekend, and purchased my first place in August 2013. This was a two family and I was able to live for free in a finished basement while also cash flowing. This allowed me to rapidly accelerate my savings rate which (combined with lots of time managing on the nights and weekends and on the phone with lenders during the days to figure out how to set myself up in terms of next steps) has resulted in additional purchases: one three-family building in each of 2014, 2015, and 2016. I am looking to continue to expand my portfolio, talk with and learn from people with goals similar to mine, and hopefully eventually continue to scale up in deal size and potentially geography (currently I am solely in Boston). Looking forward to interacting!

[Shaun Reilly]

Hi Brian, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have. My favorite is the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham (alternates every other month with their Worcester location, next Waltham meeting is in July). Other ones in and around the city are The Boston Wealth Builders in the city, the Boston Area REIA in Medford and the Boston REIA in Dedham. Many other options north and south of the city as well.