New member from the Dayton/Cincinnati area.

[Beth Klosterboer]

Hi I'm Beth and my husband, Jim, and I invested in our first rental property when we got married 18 years ago. We house hacked, lived in one side of a duplex, renovated our side over time, refinanced, and moved to a larger single family home four years after our purchase. 

Over the years I have wanted to sell the property as I didn't realize what a great investment it really was until I picked up the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and read more about real estate investing. The property was my husband's responsibility. I was busy running a food blog and was pretty hands off. All I saw was the work he had to put into turning the place over between tenants and all the repairs he had to make over the years. I take care of our taxes so I knew we were getting cash flow every month and could see our equity growing but never really thought much more about it until I read the book. One of our tenants, who lived in the house for 15 years, just moved out and I finally crunched the numbers. I was blown away. The tenant could have bought a nice house for the amount he spent in rent and a good chunk of that money is now ours, in equity in the house. I wish I would have opened my eyes to this years ago. But now that I have, and I am totally on board, my husband and I are ready to invest in more properties. 

We'd like to invest in some more long term rentals and want to try an airbnb property, as well. We are looking in the Dayton/Cincinnati area. I have been voraciously listening to podcasts while I'm in the kitchen working on recipes for my blog, and am so inspired. I have learned so much in just two weeks thanks to Bigger Pockets. 

We are looking for houses for sale in our area and are going about it the right way thanks to Bigger Pockets.  I've been evaluating properties, crunching the numbers to make the best decision, and hope to find something to invest in soon.