Another Floridian

[Danny R.]

After having been a member of BiggerPockets for roughly three months now, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Danny and I currently reside in Pinellas county (Tampa Bay). I am 24 years young and very determined to create a prosperous future based on real estate investing. It all started in the summer of 2009...

I had rented for 5 years already ever since I moved out of my parents place at the age of 18. While I always thought that living in my 'own' house was an essential part of my lifestyle I realized, that instead creating wealth for myself, I paid down someone else's mortgage. So I decided to move back in with mom and dad and try to live as light as possible - until I had a decent down-payment for my first home. I increased my income and reduced my expenses drastically and I have to say, it is amazing on how little you can live once it has become a game. Not that it would be easy, but I find it very rewarding. First I paid down all of my credit-card debt and I have been putting money into savings for about 4 months now.

Anyhow, even though the initial plan was to buy my first place I got myself so interested in real estate that I decided to read and learn more and more and in early 2010 I decided to get into real estate investing. My rough (short-term) plan is to work for another 3 months until I have saved about $20.000 in cash. That plus several credit-cards should allow me to get involved in my first deal.

Although I have already formed a legal entity and started working on my business plan I am not quite sure whether I am going to start with mobile homes or SFH. Ideally I would like to generate income through rehabbing and flipping SHF, which then allows me to purchase rental properties for long-term cash-flow. However, at this point I am not quite sure whether my available funds are going to be sufficient for a full rehab of a SFH. Hard money might be an option.
Otherwise I was thinking that lonnie deals may be a good way to get my feet wet.

Although I have not posted anything on this board so far, I am sure I will have lots of questions and maybe even some advise for other investors in the future. I am already thankful for what I've been able to learn (for free) on this forum.

Happy investing,

Danny :cool: