Starting over at 41 with basically nothing. Oh, hi, I'm new here!

[Aaron Rymanowicz]

I don't even know where to start, so...

Hey there. I'm Aaron, and 3 weeks of late night research on youtube lead me to a chain of channels and videos that has led me here. At this point, I can definitely say that I'm hitting an information overload and am beginning to feel like I'm stretched too thin. (Considering what got me here in the first place, I was already pretty stretched out)

So, quick recap that brought me to this place. I'm a 41 yo father of 3 who was a stay at home dad to his daughter of 8 years since she was born. (My boys are 11 and 12) I lost my job due to a corp merger right before my baby girl was born, and since my..."career" was trash anyway, the prospects of starting over and paying all my money to daycare just didn't make any sense, so I started some side things from home and stayed home while my wife (who used to work in retail, but is now a bank manager) continued working.

She lost her job, and I had to stop my forex day trading to fund our bills for about six months until she got back on her feet. Needless to say tho, that stopped my own trading cold. Ok, this is getting drawn out and long, so here's the fast forward version from there. Cut to today, she's leaving me, moving out of state with my kids, and...we own a house together that's about 20k under water on the mortgage. I'll be left homeless and forced to go into CDL truck driving to avoid the situation. It's unfortunate that such desperate circumstances have brought me here, but the truth is that I really don't want to be a truck driver and I've always had a mind to get into investments to retire early. Only now, I have nothing at 41 and have to start over from the very bottom, without savings or retirement investments to speak of. About the only thing I do have is excellent credit. (Fico of 750, 789 with my primary bank)

So, that's me in a nutshell right now. I'm here to learn, to try to find some kinda way to get started in real estate investments so I can build something to leave behind for my children when they're older. I'm primarily interested in buy and hold real estate. Unfortunately, spending any time on youtube leads to multitudes of advice saying to go with SFH, or MFH, or this that or the next big thing someone's trying to peddle. It's hard to really find something to latch onto and just go with it. At present, I've been convinced that MFH is the way to go, mainly because I don't plan on having more than 10 mortgages out in my name (all placed under land trusts tied to holding LLCs owned by a WY LLC, managed by a c-corp for business credit purposes. I still have to set all this up naturally)

I've got some really dark days ahead of me, and alot of hard work to do. I guess I'm just looking for some kind of direction now. Hopefully I can find that here.

Places I've been looking:

100 percent financed (youtube)

Credit suite (youtube)

Anderson business advisors (youtube)

Commercial property advisors (youtube)

And here! (youtube, forums, website)

[Ryan Peach]

Rough year my friend. Ok, here we go.
1. Continue to connect with and love your kids. Money/financial freedom will never replace them. You know this.
2. Continue to love and respect your (ex)wife. She spent a lot of her life pouring it into you and visa versa. Your kids will thank you for this someday as well.
3. Real estate: there are a 1000 ways to do it so just pick one you are comfortable with. I started with single family because it made sense to me. I did “construction loans” because they required no money down. There is only one wrong way to do real estate (or anything for that matter) and that’s half-assed!
You have earned and been dealt a tough hand. Own it! It’s your hand. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all yours. If you own all of it then you own the ability to fix it. “Don’t cry to quit. Cry to keep going. You are already hurt. You are already in pain; get a reward from it!” - Eric Thomas
One additional piece of advice....
“Have the Conversation”
What I mean is call the banks and see what loan options you have. Call the listing agent on Zillow to get more info on the house and the buying options. Call your wife and see if there is anything you can do to save the marriage (if that’s what you want). Have all of these tough, deep, uncomfortable conversations. Don’t stop at doing the research. Don’t stop at writing this post. Have as many of these conversations as you can and then do something with the info you’re given.
The BP Family is here for you! I’m here for you! You’re not alone! Take one big ***, scary step after another and before you know it HAPPY will be a reality. Much love to you my friend!