Hello from Bangor, Maine

[Alex Cole]

Hello everybody!

      I am Alex Cole, I stumbled across the bigger pockets podcast in search for some financial education in my life, and have been hooked since. I have been a member, but not much of a contributer to the forums until now.

    I am an aircraft painter by trade, based in Bangor; but my long hour work week and little appreciation for the ethic and skills I bring forth do not coincide with my bigger goals in life.
    As I imagine a lot of others have done, it all started with reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and quickly changed my mindset on how I want to operate financially. I have read some other big hitters like Think and Grow Rich and The 4-hour Work Week. One book I highly recommend is The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone, I feel it is not known enough and underrated.
  I also spend a lot of my time at work listening to podcasts from Bigger Pockets and the Rich Dad Radio Show.

But let's get into real estate. I am not yet in the game but plan to be very soon. The best thing would be to finance a fix&flip with then option to hold for a rental. The market here seems to be good and stable from what Ive seen. There is an ever growing hospital, another stable hospital, casino, aviation business, manafacturing facilities... you name it. Median income of 40k, 60-80k in neighboring towns. Vacancy rate at 7.2 percent, and rents around 900 dollars for a 2/1. I feel very safe investing here because I know the neighborhoods.
    I did a quick google search for "we buy houses" and cant pinpoint an actual investor that capitalizes in wholesaling, so thats a definate area I want to explore. 
    This is my city and I would be wrong if I said there wasnt an opportunity for me to jump in. But...

My significant other and I just bought our first home, built new. Before ever getting my brains wrapped around real estate. The potential for investing would have been a lot more open if I had invested first. Money is tight, and thats a problem, but problems call for solutions and I love figuring things out.
  So for now I will continue to learn and look for the right opportunities to flip and get in the game! I look forward to talking to those invested in the area!