Hello from new investor in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

[Justin Stern]

Hello BiggerPockets!

So despite just getting into real estate investing last week I already have deals in all 50 states thanks to my large network of investors... (I kid, I kid!)

Seriously though I've been interested in real estate on-and-off since I first noticed my hometown (Bedford, MA) beginning to boom in the late 90's; unfortunately I was in high school at the time and stuck on the sidelines (or so I believed). After that was the usual I suppose: college with a computer science degree at UNH Durham-go Wildcats!, then a cubicle job for a couple of years. Had enough of corporate "life" by 2011 and left to make my own way and started (and continue to own and operate) a small software company with an awesome co-founder and a team of 9 now.

Earlier this year my interest in real estate was reawakened, thanks in large part to the awesome Book on Rental Property Investing (highly recommend), and a desire to diversify my income. Since then I've been doing my best to listen to every BiggerPockets podcast, read just about every article being posted, tons of books, and begin meeting other local real estate investors.

At the most recent NEREIA meetup in Chelmsford, I was blown away by the presentation by Lisa A Parda of RealtyScape on underperforming multifamily homes, and all the awesome folks I met there (everyone from complete newbies like myself, to 40+ year veterans). I'm really looking forward to the next Black Diamond meetup in Waltham and hope to meet a bunch more BP members (seemed like just about everyone at NEREIA was a member!).

Besides all the book learning I'm currently scouting around the greater Lowell area (Chelmsford, Westford, Tyngsborough, Dracut, Billerica, etc) for my first deal: ideally a single family to fix and flip, or a multifamily to BRRR, with a goal of doing some sort of real estate deal this year or early 2017. I'll be sure to post about that first deal when it happens (whether success or failure) here in the BP forums. In the meantime I'm looking forward to meeting more local investors, and more great BP folks all over the place!