Looking for help to get started!

[Billy Barnes]

Hello everyone here on BiggerPockets, I am a newbie Real Estate Investor and I am looking for some help getting started. You see for the past year I have been trying to learn everything I can about the business. I have bought and read numerous books, scrolled through and absorbed info from multiple online forums and articles, joined and interacted with multiple FB Groups, watch hundreds of hours of YouTube videos, especially BiggerPockets podcasts, and went to the local REIA to network, I even formed my own LLC! Now I am ready to gain some real world experience! I currently live in Castle Rock so I am looking in starting in the South Denver/Buckley/Ft. Carson/Springs area.

I am looking to find people that will let me network and/or work with them so I can gain the experience, learn the systems, properly utilized the information I need to succeed. Who can answer questions when they arise. Though I am not looking for someone to hold my hand I am looking for someone who can point me in the right direction at times. Someone I can earn money for the people of us if possible! I am fiercely dedicated on learning how to do this job properly! I will do what it takes to get the job done. I am a US Army Veteran who is not afraid of hard work!

I am predominantly looking at learning how to do Flips/wholesales until I have the money I need to get into long term holds; this is what I ultimately want to do as a Real Estate Investor. My goal is to own vacation rentals and rental properties around Military bases (I have a trusted network of Veterans around the country that can bring me properties and checkout said properties. I also know how to get the money from the Soldiers/Sailors/Marines if they don't pay the rent, currently though I just don't have the money and/or knowledge on how to acquire them yet). But what I truly want and what really excites me as a REI are apartment complexes. I am passionate about learning on how to acquire, fix up and how to own them. (Is this a weird thing to be passionate about lol?)

Why do I want to do this? My why is simple, for my kids. You see I am a full-time single father with no real family. Everything I'm doing is for them. I am a disabled Veteran (wounded in Iraq); I am tired of struggling to cover their needs and choosing what to sacrifice to do so. I am financially responsible, but my pay is static with no raises (it will, in fact, go down when the kids get older), the cost of living is climbing here in Colorado, I don't have a 401k to pull from either. I don't tell everyone this because I want sympathy, in fact, the opposite, This is what drives me to be my best, I want more out of life, to have purpose and work toward my dreams of being financially independent, Live life on my terms, to be able to show my kids how to be successful and overcome challenges and be somebody worth looking up to in their eyes.

So if interested please let me know, even if you’re not, I would still love to network, talk with you, listen to your advice or just simply pick your brain on the subject.

-Billy Barnes

[Adam D.]

@Billy Barnes Hi Billy, good for you to want to invest in RE. My wife and I live in CR too and have some properties. We always recommend to people that they buy a multi unit 2-4 with FHA financing as a first step. Live in one unit, rent the others out. If you don't want to be a landlord yet, you could buy a single family again with FHA financing or some low down financing option and do a live in flip. I would recommend this because you're interested in flipping. Depending on where you work, you might look down to Colorado Springs. You can find some older, handyman specials or properties in need of TLC. We don't know anything about wholesaling and don't want to get into that aspect but you can find some great articles on Bigger Pockets about each aspect of RE investing.