Former poker player, very new at real estate

[Fredrik Kaarem]

Hi!

Im Fredrik from Oslo, Norway and 31 years old. Just found this community by browswing the internett, actually looking for a community like this.  Im 31 years old and just moved to Barcelona. Been living around the world the last 10 years, mainly in Asia and South America. 

Last 5 years I've been a professional online poker player, and still am. But due to AI and not knowing wether Im playing vs a human being or a computer these days, its time for me to move into new ventures.  I am very very excited about being a beginner at something again. Finding this forum with loads of information that im ready to dive into is both overwhelming, but more extremely exciting. It reminds me when I was starting out at poker, had no clue of where to start, and finally found an online community where I could start learning endlessly. 

I became very good at poker ( after years of effort and a roller coaster of emotion), and I'm today considered by many, one of the absolute best, if not the best heads up players in poker in the world online. The last year, as online poker has been dying, Ive been playing mainly live in Macau China, and still does that 5-6 months a year depending on when games are running.

Therefor the rest of the year, I got all the time in the world to pursue something else. I was recommended a real estate book called property magic by a friend, and quickly realized the potential. Its something I could see myself learning more about, as its more to it than what I in the past been thinking. The fact that you with experience and education can become very good at it and that you are never truly a master is something that attracts me. I enjoy putting endless of hours into on skill and trying to become great at something.  My rise through the stakes in poker is something that gave me endless joy, and I can see similarities to RE already.

Im just looking to learn from the people/members on biggerpockets, as if its one thing thats sure, is that Im a complete beginner and has no experience in this. Looking to, as I get better, participate as much as I can. As an note from poker was that the day I got truly good, was the day I took on students and taught others, as I had to really ask myself why Im doing things. so being active in an forum/community seems like a great thing. So Im just looking to network, learn, and maybe find someone that will teach me one day.

Ive been fortunate in poker and therefore starting out with substantially more capital than most does in RE I believe. Im sure this could be both a blessing and a curse. So for now the only thing that really matters to me is learning, and im not in a rush to make money. Last month Ive read through some books on RE and starting scouting this forum and articles. I feel im just touching the tip of an iceberg, and just very excited to move into something new. Looking forward to interact with you guys in the forums.  Any advice on anything is deeply appreciated of where I should go from now. 

My plan is to start out with buying a few apartments in Barcelona when I get to know the city better. For now I will just scout listings, go to viewings, learn the neighborhoods, talk to people and continue learning. Commercial real estate down the line looks also very interesting. Just finished a book on that called crushing it by Brian Murray. Sky is the limit.

One of my issues atm is that it will get hard for me to get a mortgage in any bank. I can show to any income, as they dont consider my poker winnings income. I do want to leverage as I realize the power of that, but yeah. Havent spoken to any bank yet, so this is just speculations. I got enough to buy several apartments without an mortgage, but I would like to leverage my money.

Regards

Fredrik Kaarem