Beginning my journey to becoming a full time real estate investor

[Eric Brown]

Good evening fellow Bigger Pocketers. I'm a military pilot currently stationed in California. I've bought and sold 3 previous homes that I purchased while stationed in various places. I typically like to buy "broken toys" that have some value I can unlock with either renovations or just some love in the form of paint or cleaning up the exterior. I still have one property in the Hudson Valley, NY area (downtown Beacon) that I am renting and I plan to sell it in a few years (I'm thinking about making it an AirBnB property. Thoughts?)

I just purchased a small house for cash in North Florida with a friend of mine and I plan to continue buying multi family properties in that area. Since I'm full time military officer I don't have the ability to take care of the time intensive or short notice requirements that pop up as a landlord. My buddy's main income is his properties so he manages the properties we buy.

My longer term goals are to finish up my military career, get the small(ish) pension, probably fly for the airlines and continue building up my real estate empire (ha!) to where I am mostly financially independent - not being a wage slave and sweating going to work every day and praying I'm not going to get laid off.

[Dacia Ray]

I AirBnB a property in the Catskills and definitely make more than I would if I were renting it out on a year lease, though there is definitely a difference between the Catskills and Hudson Valley in that respect (my place is out of commuting range). I think AirBnB guests are generally much kinder to a property than renters. However it does take some energy to have a property manager who will prepare it to your standards every week, and you have to plan for paying for all the utilities, including wifi.