Veteran Mortgage Broker, Newbie Investor from Orange County, CA

[Chayson Descisciolo]

Hi everyone!

I'm Chayson and have recently been bitten by the REI bug. I've been in the mortgage business since 2003 but never turned the corner into investing (aside from a failed primary residence attempt in 06 - perfect timing, I know). I'm still trying to determine the market (or markets) I want to get into, but am definitely looking at something long distance as southern CA property is a bit too expensive for my initial jump.

Here’s a little background on me:

I'm born and raised in Orange County, CA. My mom was an office manager for a small mortgage broker my entire life and as such, I basically grew up in that office. My first job as a junior in high school was telemarketing for that company and I've had at least one foot in lending ever since. I got my real estate license in 2007 and my broker's license in 2017. I'm currently licensed in 22 states and working for a small lender, although the goal is to open my own broker shop in the nearish future. The past few years have been heavily focused on VA loans so I'm really knowledgeable in that category (100% VA financed 4plex anyone?) although I'm pretty familiar with everything outside of USDA.

What I want to invest in:

Right now I'm still in the research phase of my (fledgling) investing career but once I narrow down a few locations the plan is to start with a small SFR value add buy and hold. One piece of advice I continue to hear to to get your first deal out of the way which seems to start the snowball. Ideally that snowball will turn into a couple smaller residential value add buy and hold deals to build a system and team, familiarize myself with the rehab side of things, bring to light the things I don't yet know that I don't know, and gain some credibility. I *think* I'd like my end game to shift up to multi family, but really who knows at this point. The real end goal is FI and whatever it takes to get there is what it's gonna be.

My next steps:

I went super hard on the podcasts initially to get a little bit of knowledge on a lot of different things and have now started narrowing it down a little more. Went to my first meetup a few weeks ago which was really cool, definitely looking to network a bit more irl through more local meetups (hope to meet some of you there!). Audible has been my best friend and I've gone through a few of the newbie reads like Richest Man in Babylon, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Cashflow Quadrant. Followed those up with some motivational/self help reads that aren't focused on REI and now I'm onto more real estate specific like Long Distance REI and The Book on Rental Property Investing. I'm in the middle of Emerging Markets right now and after finishing the plan is to make decision on a few markets to put the feelers into, form a team, and start making offers. Any other book recommendations you felt really helped out when you were starting?

Anywho, looking forward to becoming part of the community and learning from everyone out there. Hopefully I’ll be able to push some value back your way so feel free to reach out with any of your mortgage questions. If I don’t know the answer off the top of my head I can definitely find it.

See ya out there!

-Chayson