Newbie in Columbia, MD

[Derrek Lawson]

Hello. I'm Derrek Lawson from Columbia, Maryland. I'm 44 years old veteran, new to real estate investing. Nothing purchased yet. I might be 12-18 months away from making a purchase. However, I have some general real estate experience, having "purchased" two of my "own" SFRs over the past 17 years. The last sale/purchase was in 2005 at the height of the market. Had I known what we all know happened, I would have rented and then purchased after the crash. Ugh!!

My father, a military veteran, has held various properties, moving money and real estate holdings around when he was reassigned. I've passively observed his success and think real estate can be as good as, if not better than, the stock market.

I have three immediate challenges. 1) Convincing my spouse, who expertly manages our finances, to give this a go; 2) finding a cash flowing property in the OVERPRICED Baltimore/Washington DC marketplace; and 3) coming up with the down payment for my/our first deal.

One other challenge, and I'm sure many on here can relate, tearing myself away from all of the awesomely informative podcasts from BiggerPockets. I can't tell you how many times I've arrived on time for work, only to be 15 minutes "late" (I have a flexible schedule) because I was engrossed in a BiggerPockets podcast.

What are my goals? Invest in real estate to supplement my long-term needs (fund child's college, retirement) and long-term wants (travel and feed my foodie-ness). 10 units in 5 years, perhaps. My personal skills/time can handle a paint/carpet/landscape fixer, nothing more.

I'm looking forward to engaging on this BiggerPockets Community.