New to Bigger Pockets - Unique Situation/Help Appreciated!

[Andrew Benefield]

Hello Everyone,

(This may be rather long but I appreciate your time reading and certainly your advice)

I am new to the BP world and loving it. I have been a Dave Ramsey fan for a while, listening to him on and off while dreaming of getting my finances in order. I, unfortunately, haven't gotten serious enough about it until recently. I would try for a while then get discouraged. I recently started my own side (hopefully one-day full time) business, however, I had to put it on pause as I moved due to a career change. My goals are to one day run my business full time and get into real estate. I would like to have a few rental homes, then be able to cash buy homes to restore and flip.

I am in quite the predicament right now, however.  Trying my best to make a long story short, I recently separated from Air Force after serving for 6 years. While in the service, my wife and I moved from Wyoming to Arkansas and purchased a house. Unknown to us and not disclosed by the sellers; the home (which is on well water with no access to county water) has a bad well. The well sporadically runs dry and has very hard water. The 4 1/2 years we lived there, we had to constantly treat the water and conserve to try our best to not run out. Our options are: chance digging another well (approx: $8000) or get county water ran to our home (approx: $15k-$20k). Neither of which we have the money for or were prepared for. 

I separated from the Air Force because I got a job offer that was going to potentially set us on the right track and be closer to family. It went south. Now I have a home in Arkansas on the market that I can't sell because of the water issue. I have to disclose that because I don't want to do anyone like we were done. I had to take another job to have some income, while it's a great job I am not making enough to make the $1300 house payment. I have unfortunately missed a few payments while trying to make ends meet. I am looking into a "Deed in Lieu" option to get out from under the house, rather than it go into foreclosure. I am just worried about this further damaging my credit and also hindering me from being able to get another mortgage when I am ready to get another home. 

I was looking into getting a cheaper house, renovating it, and flipping it for profit, repeating, until we got into the house we could afford and stay out of a large mortgage as much as possible. I am afraid my dreams of doing something like this will be shot down all because of a problem we "inherited". My life has been full of terrible luck, some my fault, most just life I guess. But its rather frustrating when you finally get one leg up and something else knocks you back down. I have a lot of plans, I am listening to the podcasts literally all day at work and taking notes. I have lots of ambition, but I am not sure if it will do me any good. I know where there is a will theres a way, hopefully someone can give me some hope on the situation or some good advice. 

This was forever long, I am sorry. I tried to not get into every little detail and believe it or not, left a lot out lol.

Thank you for the opportunity to join you guys, I hope one day I can post something helpful to someone else, rather than needing so much advice. I am really excited about the opportunities and I am hoping I can straighten this mess out somehow.

Respectfully,

Andrew B.

[Dustin Davis]

@Andrew Benefield @Michael Rhein has a great suggestion with the storage tank. We also have a slow well (.5-1 gallon/minute) with VERY hard water (calcium carbonate). We put a 1500 gallon storage tank on it and a water softener. We havent had any problems out of it in 6 year unless I forget about it when watering the garden and run our cistern dry. I have a few folks I can refer you to and maybe a few more suggestions if you're close, please reach out.