Amateur Investor from the Steel City

[Megan Hirlehey]

Hello Everyone,

I accidentally got into real estate when I was 20 and dropped out of college. Up to that point, I had been saving money for tuition, so when I dropped out I had a nice little pile of cash that wasn't being used for tuition anymore, and if it wasn't for my dad's foresight I probably would've spent it on something dumb like a 6-month-long spring break (The "drunk on the beach" kind, not the "seeing the world and becoming a more-well rounded, cultured individual" kind). Long story short, he convinced me to buy out his business partner on a flip they had bought a few years prior but never did anything with. We gutted it from top to bottom and rebuilt it, 90% by ourselves, so it was a long, frustrating process. A month after we finished the 3ish-yr reno, I decided to move across the country to finish school and rented my house for 2 years, and now since moving back home I have moved into it and am now living for the cost of utilities because I own it free and clear.

I moved back home for my dream job, which I have since been medically disqualified from and now find myself in a soul-sucking 9-10 hr/day office job. I haven't quite figured out what else I want to be when I grow up, but I am reminded every day when I walk into my brown, chilly, window-less office of the things I do not want to be. This has renewed my interest in real-estate. I have no desire to do another flip on the scale of my first house (unless of course I build a portfolio that generates so much passive income that I need something to do to kill time), but I am very interested in exploring other avenues to generate passive income through real estate. Ideally, I want to build a portfolio that generates enough passive income to cover my basic living expenses so I can pursue work that I truly enjoy without having to think too much about my paycheck.