New member from Kirkland, WA

[Russell Pitts]

Hi all, my name is Russell Pitts and I'm new to biggerpockets. I live in the Kirkland area of Washington state, and grew up about 1.5 hours west of there. I'm really enjoying the plethora of information on this site and it's exactly what I'm needing to read right now. I've really enjoyed the podcasts so far, they're really pumping me up to dive in further and this bull by the horns. I heard about BiggerPockets via listening to podcasts from Radical Personal Finance, specifically episode 261 with Josh Dorkin.

Starting about 10 years ago I really wanted to get into real estate investing, mainly SFR's and multi-plexes. For this or that reason I just never pulled the trigger, but am back now diving into it. As well, in the last 10 years I fell into being a landlord a couple times, mainly due to the 2008 recession and not being able to sell some properties I owned, which were once primary residences. So, I have a little experience with rental contracts, advertising, etc. As far as real estate in general, I've purchased and sold about 6 properties, so fairly familiar with how purchasing/selling goes.

My goals in general are to achieve financial independence. My wife and I have, for the past 2 or so years, have read and put into practice quite a bit about how to achieve financial independence. We've been cutting expenses and saving a higher % of our income to help achieve our goal of financial independence in < 10 years.

My goals specific to real estate are to attain buy and hold rentals that are providing good cash flow such that we can achieve financial independence sooner (who doesn't want that??) as well as create a new income stream other than the dividends and capital gains of our stocks. I would feel more comfortable if our dependency of income wasn't solely on the stock market, and of course a day job.

If there's anyone out there who knows the Seattle/Eastside markets well, I would really love to speak with you! I've started my own system of researching potential properties but would benefit greatly from those who have done this before, especially in my area.

I'm looking forward to spending some more time on the site and listening to more podcasts, in addition to actually connecting and meeting up with those with like-minded goals!!  Glad to be here!

Thanks,

Russell