Student-Member from Florida State University

[Austin Shrigley]

Hello BP family!

My name is Austin Shrigley, and I am extremely excited and motivated to get my real estate investing career started. I am currently a student at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, where I will be graduating in December of this year with degrees in Real Estate & Finance. I have always found the ways of building wealth through business fascinating, starting as a 13 year old selling skateboards. I have since been engaged in multiple entrepreneurial adventures, seeking a niche that would suit my skills best. I am currently interning at a commercial real estate firm based in Orlando, where I have gained valuable experience in many aspects of the business; from property management, lease administration, brokerage and operations. I am currently a member of ICSC, and actively involved with the Youth Leadership Group of ULI Central Florida. 

I have religiously been listening to real estate investing podcasts, reading books and building my network for the past 6 months. I am now ready to throw myself in the fire, begin doing deals and building my personal brand. I would like to become a master at investing primarily in multifamily buy-and-hold properties, where I can begin building my passive income to achieve my near-term goal of generating $25,000 cash flow per month. 

I am currently interested in investing in the Orlando and Tallahassee areas where I already have market knowledge, but would love to eventually begin doing deals out west in states such as Colorado and California. As far as my career in commercial real estate, I would like to get started as an Industrial Broker in a city such as Denver or San Diego. I believe this will be a great spot to get started, and will help me gain valuable contacts and knowledge of the industry.

I would like to hear some feedback from the experienced BP family on my current goals:

1. Move out west to Denver, San Diego, or Los Angeles in 2017 after graduation.
       -I love the west coast and would love to move out there as soon as possible to begin building my network and enjoying a different way of life. Would it be of my best interest to try and secure a job that will provide salary as opposed to a commission based brokerage position? Any other tips on the big move? 

2. Generate enough monthly passive income to escape the rat race, and work full time on my own business by year 2020. 

      -I am concerned that a full time commercial position will be a strong headwind for escaping the corporate world. I feel this could really limit my ability to work on building my own real estate investing business, but I am very interested in the industrial side of commercial real estate. Would this be a waste of time or beneficial? 

3. Is it realistic for me to own and manage investment properties in Florida while living and working on the west coast? 

           -I would like to invest in Florida because of the growth potential I see here and the current network I have built, but moving is my top priority. Should I start researching and focusing my time on these other markets out west instead?

I could keep going on but I will leave it at that for now. I am very excited to get to meet other members of the BP community and get my career started. I am truly grateful for how amazing of an opportunity it is to interact with everyone here. Please feel free to add me as a connection, especially if you work within one of the markets I've mentioned. I would love to get to know all of you!