New from York, PA - Baltimore, MD

[Matt Dubois]

Hi everyone!  My name is Matt Dubois, and I'm a Captain in the Baltimore City Fire Department.  I live in York, PA.  It's not a bad commute, maybe about 50 mins.  I moved up to York from Baltimore County (Reisterstown) about 13 years ago.  I grew up in Montgomery County, MD, in the Aspen Hill area.  I've also lived in the Phoenix metro area for about 4 years, courtesy of the USAF (1993-1996).

I've always had an interest in RE, I even had my license for a short while 15 years ago.  At the time though, I needed more steady income and I found it difficult to work around my fire department schedule.  Fortunately, we work a different shift which will allow me more time to focus on RE.

I really don't even know how I came across BiggerPockets; I remember reading an article about live-in flips, and through clicking and reading, clicking and reading, and found myself here.  

GOALS: I will be retiring from the fire department in about 10 years, and my primary goal in REI is to do live-in flips during that time so I can buy my retirement home with cash, or very little mortgage, and be able to live on my pension and other retirement investments. I will be using my VA Loan to get started. Secondary goals are to possibly get involved in other areas of REI, such as rentals, etc..., to increase my net worth and cash flow. Tertiary goal is to learn enough and build enough so that when I do retire from the fire department I can take my knowledge and skills with me to my new location - most likely a beach somewhere in the Carolinas - and be able to invest locally in beach rentals. I know, I dream big lol. Don't mistake that for jumping in with both feet before testing the water, though. Although I'm not afraid of taking risks (I do run into burning buildings, after all), they're usually taken with a lot of education, experience, and forethought.

I do have a friend in the fire department who has been successful with wholesaling, flipping, and I believe rentals, too, in the Baltimore region. He has agreed to be a sort-of mentor for me, guiding me and allowing me to come to him with ideas, deals, questions, etc.... I also found a local REIA group here in York, and plan on attending my first meeting next Tuesday (9/25).

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

[Christina J.]

Welcome, @Matt Dubois! So glad you found Bigger Pockets early in your journey. I enjoyed reading about your big goals for the future - it's inspiring!

A few tips that may be helpful to you here on the BP website as you build your portfolio:

You can set up keyword alerts so anytime someone posts about York, Baltimore or any of the other markets you're evaluating, you'll be notified. That could be a great way to find and stay engaged with local investors, realtors and opportunities. http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Looks like you've already made some connections with other BP members in your area...You can also search for other investors or brokers in your market and follow their journey on Bigger Pockets here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/users

Best of luck to you and look forward to following your success on BP!