Young Tennessee Investor ready to Level Up

[Taylor Redden]

Hello BiggerPockets! I've finally found a place that speaks to me. Investors being open about their deals, methodologies, and tactics, without all the scammy hype!

My name is Taylor Redden, and I'm currently work full time as a software developer hospice software, but I've always had aspirations of being a land lord, and making money from real estate. Ever since I went to college, and met some really great landlords, I knew it was the kind of job that spoke to me.

I graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Tennessee Tech, but absolutely fell in love with the town there. I bought my first house in 2008 and immediately started to house hack it, even though I didn't realize that's what you called it.

My next opportunity came in the form of a Condo building near downtown Nashville in 2011. I barely scrounged up enough cash to make the purchase, and I'm so glad I have. Over the next 5 years, I've seen my Condo more than double in value, driven by a hot Nashville market.

Most recently, I moved out to Central Oregon (Bend) for almost 2 years. I was amazed at the market there, and it really opened my eyes to how awesome REI could be. I moved back home to Tennessee, but decided to buy 2.2 acres out there for a very long term buy and hold deal. Its not only a place I want to appreciate for wealth, but a place where I want to be able to build a nice cabin in the woods (So to speak).

I love the small town college niche like Cookeville, and I would like to find other markets where the city size is under 100k, but the school population is over 10k. I also like up and coming markets similar to Nashville, TN or Bend, OR. Chattanooga, TN is on my radar and I think that is prime for future value.

I'm glad I found bigger pockets, as I figure out how to take my next steps into really getting serious about REI.

[Taylor Redden]

Hey Matthew, I'd love to meetup sometime and pick your brain on thoughts about the area, and approaches each other are taking. Maybe we could meetup at Spankies sometime? ;)

Thanks for the suggestion Cody, if there's not something in the area, then its the perfect opportunity to start something. I saw you work out of Hendersonville, TN. I was actually born at Hendersonville Hospital, and graduated from HHS. I also have family out in Chattanooga, and its awesome to see the change its gone through in the last 20 years. It now starting to remind me of what Nashville was about 20-30 years ago.

I got extremely lucky with my tenants when I moved out west. They would just drive to my bank, and deposit rent every month, and shoot me a text when they left the bank. My friend in Nashville offered to repaint my walls to a color they liked and I agreed on, added a tile backsplash to the kitchen, and mounted my flatscreen I was letting him use. I would pay for the parts, he would do the labor. I'll never get as good of a tenant ever again.