Newbie from Metuchen New Jersey

[Jason Mancini]

Hello everyone! My name is Jason Mancini and I’m thankful for this website!

I've wanted to own rental property since back in high school but my real-estate investing experience is very limited. My interest was sparked when I heard about another student owning and renting out an apartment so I thought what a great idea I should do the same. Soon after I left for the Army. In the military I found another Ranger and his civilian partner who were flipping houses. I figured it would be a good idea to learn from them rather than just reading books. So I would go driving for dollars and hanging up bandit signs, I even did some door knocking on pre-foreclosures for them. That was in late 2006. Once I finished my enlistment I got an amazing job as an Operating Engineer (crane operator) in NYC and met my beautiful wife. She is risk adverse (but smart, a great saver & frugal) so we played Let's Make a Deal. The deal was once we owned our home free and clear I could start investing. So after eating nothing but pasta for the past five years here I am! I recently obtained my real-estate license and am trying to learn as much as possible. Ultimately, I would like to use a flip and hold strategy on distressed multi-family properties. Eventually consolidating their equity via a 1031, to step up to small apartment buildings. Aim high right? But first, I would like to cut my teeth on flipping a SFR and hopefully proving to my wife I'm not a fool or crazy or both lol.

I look forward to getting to know everyone on the forums and some in person!

[Alina Trigub]

@Jason Mancini Thank you for your service sir!

Congrats on making it to BP! To answer your question, anything is possible with the right mindset and determination! 

In terms of your strategy, I think you're referring to buy&hold (not flip!). You should continue educating yourself by reading books, listening to podcasts and networking with like-minded RE professionals through local REI clubs found on meetup and here on BP. In order to help your wife to follow you along on this strategy, the thing for someone who is risk averse (which is actually good!) they need to learn RE business with you! So engage your wife into learning RE investing with you - this will help your journey through this process.

Best of luck!