Newb living in Des Moines, IA

[Daniel Dittmeyer]

Hi BP Nation!

My name is Daniel, I'm 32 living in Des Moines, IA. I am married with 3 boys (4,2,and a newborn). I have been in the shadows for nearly a year now, figured it was time to get my first post out of the way. We currently own no properties, other than the house we live in. It's a small 2bed1bath that we own free and clear. My wife will not allow me to pull equity out of this house or sell it. She thinks I take too many risks and doesn't want to lose the house on any of my business ideas.

I guess I'll start by telling y'all a little about me;

Despite my profile pic, I'm no longer in the military. I was in the Army and did 4.5 years. On my only deployment, I had a lot of down time. I spent most of it reading books. Rich dad poor dad was one and it changed my thinking entirely. That was a decade ago. My father passed while I was deployed and I received $15,000 from his life insurance. I was a great consumer back then and used it to pay off debt and gamble. I grew up with gambling parents and have grown to control it more and more over time. I still love to play poker and wager on football, in moderation. 

A few years ago I took my nephews to play laser tag here in Des Moines and I got hooooooooooked. It wasn't like any laser tag I'd ever played. The guns were realistic and we had to use scopes, the same red dot sights I used in the military. I was good at it, and I ended up spending $250 a week playing. The owner took notice and made a deal with me where I could play unlimited for $500/mo. I told him I had some cash and was interested in starting my own laser tag business. He took me under his wing and agreed on a deal that later fell thru. He had over 10k sqft in his basement that he wanted to convert to produce income. He asked for ideas, and he ended up discovering escape rooms. I didn't like the idea but he brought me to Nashville on his own dollar and we tried it together and I was IN. We opened multiple locations before I decided to do it on my own. I then opened escape rooms in Omaha and Wichita and sold my company last November.

I have been interested in real estate for awhile, but just never take that first step. I guess the biggest reason (excuse) is that I found other ventures that had a faster roi (escape rooms were <30k investment and made it back in months). I wanted to use the money I got from selling my business to start investing in real estate, but then another venture popped up. I will eventually dive in, as this is what I plan to do long term, but meanwhile I will continue to read these forums, listen to the podcast and soak in the vast knowledge all of you bring to the table. I really look forward to being an active part of this community, and hope to make friends, meet partners, and make some money!

Cheers,

Daniel