Newbie From Seattle Washington

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Newbie From Seattle Washington

Shelby Williams
Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes

My name is Shelby Williams, I am 23 and I'm from the town of North Bend which is about an hour outside of Seattle Wa. I am a recent college graduate with a B.S. in Construction Management from Central Washington University and am currently working for a Marine construction contractor in the Tacoma area.

I joined Bigger Pockets because I know very little about real estate investing but am excited to learn. My current real estate goal is to just learn as much as possible until I am ready to do my first deal (which I hope to do in the next 1-2 years). My long term real estate goal is to purchase rental properties that cash flow and create passive income that I can use to roll back into my investments and increase my portfolio. 

Like many others my interest was sparked by reading the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad". Reading it changed my mind set about working and creating wealth, but didn't give me many tips on how to actually accomplish those goals. Since reading that book I have attempted to dive into the knowledge on Bigger Pockets and read as many blog posts and listen to as many podcasts as I can. 

I hope to connect with people who are much smarter than I am who are willing to share their knowledge about real estate investing. 

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Gerald Grinter
Insurance Agent · Seattle, WA · Member since 2010 · 63 posts · 27 votes
10y

@Shelby Williams Welcome to Bigger Pockets! I like Julie's idea. I think house hacking is a great way to get our feet wet, make a few mistakes and learn as you grow. I have insured many investors who started this way and have grown a sizable portfolio of properties. 

Glad you are with on BP. Hope to see you at a some BP events. 

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  • Michael S.Pro Member
    Biggerpockets Support · Las Pinas, Metro Manila · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    Welcome to Biggerpockets Shelby. Great to have you here. You can find more resources under Education for your REI learning. Good luck and all the best

    BiggerPockets
    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Everett, WA · Member since 2013 · 389 posts · 222 votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams welcome. The maritime industry is awesome! Marine contractor in Tacoma...I am guessing American Construction or Orion...Anyways, I read Rich Dad Poor Dad back when I was in the marine industry (shipbuilding sector) and it set me up for some pretty radical changes in life. After 5 years in the industry I was able to accumulate 7 multi-family buildings and went into Real Estate Investing full-time at the beginning of this year.

    Good luck and I would be happy to share some experience with you.

    1Reply
  • Julie MarquezPro Member
    Investor · Skagit County, WA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 807 votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams Glad to see more CM grads in real estate. I graduated from UW and work for a commercial general contractor. So much of the education and experience in construction management translate to real estate, so you are in a great position.

    My suggest for you is to look into "househacking." Buy a duplex or small multi and live in one side, and rent the other. Hopefully you can get it so that the tenant basically pays for your portion of the housing. Maybe you have handy skills and and add some value that way too. Keep learning as much as you can, and dive into it to get life learning experience that way too!

    0Reply
  • Gerald Grinter
    Insurance Agent · Seattle, WA · Member since 2010 · 63 posts · 27 votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams Welcome to Bigger Pockets! I like Julie's idea. I think house hacking is a great way to get our feet wet, make a few mistakes and learn as you grow. I have insured many investors who started this way and have grown a sizable portfolio of properties. 

    Glad you are with on BP. Hope to see you at a some BP events. 

    1Reply
  • Shelby Williams
    OP
    Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    Thank you all for the advice, house hacking will most likely be how I get started. At first I was thinking that I would wait until I payed off my student loans to start investing, but now I'm thinking I may try and purchase some cash flowing properties to help cover my student loan payments so I can use my income to save for more. Any advice or stories of someone who used this strategy?

    0Reply
  • Julie MarquezPro Member
    Investor · Skagit County, WA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 807 votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams I imagine your student loans are at a very low interest rate. Start investing now! You'll never look back and wish you had waited longer. Though it might take you a while to find that "deal," I'd plan to get started sooner than later. Start talking to mortgage lenders about their requirements and what they need to see from you. Look into FHA loans for a downpayment as low as 3.5% and FHA 203K loans for homes that need rehab work.

    0Reply
  • Jack Butala
    Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 515 votes
    10y

    Hello @Shelby Williams and welcome to BiggerPockets!

    You have stumbled upon one of the best real estate investing sites on the internet! BiggerPockets is the way to go when reaching out to experienced investors and getting deals done the right way. Congratulations and I wish you all the best.

    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Everett, WA · Member since 2013 · 389 posts · 222 votes
    10y

    start now for sure! I've been paying off my loans for 5 years and have 5 to go and honestly at this point I could pay them all with about 4-5 months of cash flow from my RE investments but what's the point? I rather continue to use that money to invest and grow the snowball (of cash flow).

    1Reply
  • Imaan PourPro Member
    New to Real Estate · Bothell, WA · Member since 2016 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    10y

    Hi Shelby, I'm also a new investor from Bothell, WA. This is an awesome site. Good luck!

    1Reply
  • Shelby Williams
    OP
    Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    @Julie Marquez thank you for the advice! I will look into those loan options and keep my eyes open for the "deal".

    0Reply
  • Shelby Williams
    OP
    Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    @Account Closed would it not be beneficial to pay off the student loan faster? Sure you'd have decreased cash flow for awhile but then you'd be reducing your liabilities and the total amount that you would have to pay back over time. Then you could use that extra money to roll back into investments?

    1Reply
  • Mark Nolan
    Professional · Carlsbad, CA · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams

    Welcome to Bigger Pockets.

    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Everett, WA · Member since 2013 · 389 posts · 222 votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams I guess it all depends on what your ROI from your investments are. Given where we (my wife and I) are now we average well over 20% cash on cash ROI from real estate investing so we are not going to use our cash to pay down a 5-6% interest loans when we can make 3-5 times that investing our money. We have the paying off student loan debt conversation about once a quarter but it just doesn't make sense at this point in our lives.

    0Reply
  • Ryan Rogers
    Rental Property Investor · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2016 · 40 posts · 9 votes
    10y

    Shelby,

    I am in the similar boat as you. I myself live in Washington and I just recently graduated. I am looking into paying off my student loans as of now to help my debt to income ratio for buying power. It is a significant amount of buying power without any student loan debt, I paid off 9,000 of my student loan debt this year and have 13 to go. I am new to investing and interested in the same field. Duplex and renting one side out and hopefully developing enough cash flow to live in the other unit for cheap. Good luck and look forward to seeing the process!!

    0Reply
  • Lori Valene
    Rental Property Investor · Kent, WA · Member since 2014 · 83 posts · 27 votes
    10y

    Welcome Shelby,

    There are "unofficial" meet ups for Bigger Pockets investors. We have 3 meet ups at this time in the Seattle-ish area. Once a month in Kirkland, Seattle and the up coming one in Lakewood. You can find them under Meetup.com under Drinks, Deals and Meals or some variation of that. The next one is Monday at 7pm The Ram in Lakewood. Sometimes Brandon Turner comes out to be with us all. Usually 30-80 investors show up. Great networking!!!

    Take care,

    Lori Valene

    0Reply
  • Brian Trask
    Wholesaler · Snohomish, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 1 vote
    10y
    Shelby, I'm 25 from Snohomish, WA have just gotten into real estate investing this year and have already learned a lot. Looking to keep my network open and meet with people on the greater Seattle area. I have also read a pile of Robert Kiyosaki books and they definitely change the way you think about money.
    0Reply
  • Lane Kawaoka
    Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HAWAII (HI) · Member since 2011 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y
    Shelby Williams I have a masters in CM. I would like to hear your BS.
    0Reply
  • Shelby Williams
    OP
    Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    @Account Closed that definitely makes sense and is something to think about. I guess I will have to decide which route I want to take once I finally get a property. 

    0Reply
  • Shelby Williams
    OP
    Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    @Lori Valene Thank you! I will look into coming to one. What do these meet ups usually consist of? Mostly just networking?

    1Reply
  • Shelby Williams
    OP
    Spokane, WA · Member since 2016 · 9 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    @Lane Kawaoka I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by "hear your BS". But I am curious, where did you get your masters in CM from? What construction industry did you work in? Residential, Heavy Civil, Commercial?

    0Reply
  • Lori Valene
    Rental Property Investor · Kent, WA · Member since 2014 · 83 posts · 27 votes
    10y

    Meeting the right people and getting deals done! Son! lol

    Lots of financial intercourse going on!!! 

    I heard that term from Grant Cardone! lol 

    Listen to his freak'n podcast in here, you will see what I mean.

    These meet ups are very powerful for networking.....lots of podcast speakers go to these meetings. 

    0Reply
  • Lane Kawaoka
    Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HAWAII (HI) · Member since 2011 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    @Shelby Williams UW

    I do project management.

    0Reply
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