Share Your Real Estate Investing Story

[Phyllis Masaya]

I'm 38 years old & I have so much to learn about money, investing & real estate. 

I am turning myself into a sponge so I can absorb as much as I can on these topics.

My younger, self-assured self thought I knew everything there was to know about the World, & boy was I wrong!

My dad had suggested I get a real estate license when I was 18, to support myself while I attended UCSB. I told him there was no need as I would become a geneticist or medical researcher & could pay off my student loans in no time.

Fast forward 20 years, and not only did I not get a degree in Biology/Pre-medicine, I didn't even graduate UCSB. 

Eventually, I did go back to school & majored in what I love, art. The particularly difficult & heart breaking thing is, art does not pay my bills. 

Now that I'm 2 & 1/2 months from my 39th birthday I am faced with the fact that I'm married, without children & so badly want the financial freedom to have kids & raise them myself.

This is my "Why". My husband & I are fertility-challenged. I know that trying to have a baby will be costly & after having the baby, will be even more costly. 

I DO NOT want to work for someone else the rest of my life, while someone else raises my kid(s). 

I also want to give back to my family, who has given me so much. 

After a few weeks of listening to BP podcasts & hearing how many are able to become RE investors working part time & living lives they've dreamed of, I WANT IN!

My husband & I have less than ideal credit. And we have consumer debt & I have student debt. At the moment we are 1,000,000% focused on paying these debts down, improving our credit & learning what I can about real estate investing. 

I have a long way to go & probably 9-12 months before jumping into purchasing our first home (my goal is to house hack). 

Please let me know there are others out there just starting out by educating themselves. 

Please let me know I'm not alone! 

I'd appreciate if others shared theirs. 

Thank you for listening to my story.

[Caleb Heimsoth]

Phyllis Masaya id say you’re on the right track with paying off consumer debt. I’d say do consumer debt first and then student debt. Not having that will do wonders for your sanity and peace of mind once you reach a certain amount of rentals.

My personal story so far isn’t all that interesting and doesn’t create interesting sound bites, but it’s worked so far. It’s just a slow and long game and most people don’t want to hear that. They want the “went from broke to millionaire in 18 months through real estate!” Story. Anyways that aside here’s my “story”.

Studied hard in high school, was a good student. Leveraged these excellent grades and slightly above average test scores into a private school with a good scholarship. Chose an intense and studious major in engineering. Studied even more than high school (easily thousands of hours over 4 years). Decided that just a normal degree in engineering wasn’t enough, so joined the honors school and wrote a thesis as well. Did all this while also being in a fraternity.

Graduate school, get a job. Then leave job and get a different job. Discover the idea of real estate and research for another 9-12 months. Figure my local area is too expensive for solid rentals, so buy out of state rental. Do this again and again. Now I’m up to 3 rentals and also looking at going back to grad school for a masters in engineering.