Farmer from SE Wisconsin

[Josh Teunissen]

I have been lurking on the forums for a little over 2 years. I never built up the courage to post because I felt like I've never had anything to contribute to the BP community besides the same newbie questions. Which I still have a lot of ;). Fast forward to today, my girlfriend, (future fiance') highschool sweetheart have an accepted offer on a duplex in northern ozaukee county to owner occupy. We just had the inspection done, there's quite a bit more deferred maitenance than our initial judgement of the property. I'm thankful for a thorough inspector and we'll continue negotiations going forward. I'll post more about that deal in the proper forum catagory. 

Anyways, I'm 24 years old and I work for my family farm est. 1912. I was 18 the first time I thought about buying a duplex to live in. At that time I was looking for my first apartment away from home  and the concept was much simpler then than now -pay rent or get paid rent -. That core idea has always stuck around in the back of my mind and has led me to Biggerpockets. Certainly I've come to find there are a lot more moving parts to real estate. Biggerpockets has shown me what is possible and that an average hardworking person can really make something of themselves if they keep grinding through adversity and hardships. Sinice finding BP I've shifted to getting ahold of my personal finances, I've always maintained a good credit score and paid all my bills but previously I was not a saver. 

My goal in real estate is to take it as far as I can go. I would like to get into medium size multifamily apartments in my current and/or surrounding countys. My current plan to get there is to slowly buy the right duplexs in nice neihboor hoods until the cashflow or equity allows for the step up. I'm a bit hesitant to lay out a specific plan with goals with dates because markets change, information that I come accross may lead me to better opportunities or show a need for a shift in strategy. Going forward I'm going to hustle in the small multifamily.

The next question would be what is my "why"? My "why" is, it's expensive to raise a family, it's expensive to get married", health issues can come along any time. I'm not driven purely by fear. I would like to leave something behind for my future children to get them started towards whatever their goals may be. I've always been a dreamer with big goals and I've achieved quite a few with my hobbies. (I own and drive for a race team). Success to me is more important than purly money. I want to succeed at what I put my blood sweat and tears too. 

So now that I've written a book, I want to thank everyone who posts in biggerpockets for feeding my obsession.  I've listened to every podcast 3 times as well. Goodbye for now - Josh

[Corina Eufinger]

Welcome Josh! I enjoyed reading your "book".  Its wonderful that you decided to post and be more active in the community. 

The nice thing about writing down goals with dates and that it brings a sense of accountability and importance to the tasks. Not urgency, but importance. Reminding you that if your terms and criteria are met for a property, that you should invest to keep on track for your goal. 

Good luck! Feel free to reach out on the boards or to people you make colleageues.  I'm always willing to help with questions.