Newish Member - Bastrop, Louisiana

[Ryan Carter]

Hi, Ladies and Gentlemen!

My name is Ryan Carter, I'm 30 years old and from a small town in North Louisiana. I've been listening to the podcast and lurking these forums for the past 5 months or so and decided to go ahead and introduce myself.

Currently I work for a chemical company full-time, primarily dealing with water treatment in the Pulp and Paper Industry. I've been working in paper mills for the past 8 years or so and stay very busy doing so. I've always considered myself to be a "bad employee" and dreamed for the day that I could work for myself and actually own my own business doing something, anything! What I mean by "bad employee" is that I fight within myself to be ordinary. Does that make sense?

I'll try to keep my story short for now. 

Back in 2014, after many failed attempts at starting random product related businesses I decided "REAL ESTATE" seemed like a smart and safe move! So I took a hammer to by favorite piggy bank, found a house on the MLS and made an offer. To my surprise they accepted the offer and I immediately paid for an appraisal, everything was going smoothly and now we're just waiting on a closing date. I can't remember the exact amount of days, but I know if was more than 30 that we FINALLY had a scheduled closing date. The day before closing, the seller backs out of the deal (buyer/seller agreement expired) and he decides to keep the house. My first experience in Real Estate and I lost everything I put into it and never even owned anything! (the loss wasn't much, but losing anything was bad for me)

It took me a few years to lick my wounds and decide to try again, but I did eventually try again! Second time around everything was going great but during the title search they found two heirs to the property that were physically no where to be found. I could purchase the property, but would be required to sign a document acknowledging the fact that I wouldn't own 100%, which was no good for me so of course I backed out. Once again, losing my small investment before I actually owned anything.

Fast forward to today, multiple real estate books later, all of the BP podcast and a ton of research throughout these forums and many others, I'm now a Gazillionair!! lol  Not really, BUT I own a Property Management Company and have 5 properties! (I know this is small stuff compared to many on this forum, but it's my story and I'm just getting into the first chapter!) I'm working on adding more properties to my business as well as purchasing my own while still holding onto my full-time job, for now.

My latest project is a house that's within the city limits where I live thats been converted into a commercial building. It has a full kitchen, dining room and 1 bathroom, as well as 7 other rooms! 4 of 7 rooms are already rented consisting of hair salons and a massage therapist. I'm in the beginning stages of working that deal out now.

I know this was a longer read than the average intro, but I'm not average! I hope to become more active on the BP forums and actually get to know some of you rather than just reading your responses to other members!

See ya on the forums!

Ryan