Advice for a brand spankin’ new & very excited member!

[Colleen Prescott]

Hello all of BP! I’m extremely new to all of this! Growing up I only ever saw how real estate could financially break people and so the idea of buying scared the bajeezus of me. Fast forward many moons and my wife and I are currently living in our very first purchased home. It wasn’t the right time to buy but our landlord decided he wanted to sell and gave us the boot. With rent prices insanely high it made more sense to purchase a home than to rent a house for $3,500 per month (Oakland, CA). A house with a backyard is necessary because we rescue and foster dogs. My wife had just finished a two year program at Stanford and we were living off of my income only. Credit card debt racked up a bit and now we have a mortgage and wonderful school loans to top that off. For awhile I’ve felt like life is a rat race. Go to school, get the job, buy the house and hope that a vacation gets to happen once a year. That doesn’t seem like life to me. I want more! I don’t need to be rich but I want more experiences to enrich my life. With all of this swirling around in my head I was introduced to Bigger Pockets by a friend. Sometimes it really feels like things happen at just the right tome. With all of this being said, I would love more than anything to hear everyone’s advice to someone who is just starting out. I’ve listened to a gazillion BP podcasts, I’m doing the Miracle Morning, I’m a PRO member after watching a webinar, I reached out to our favorite real estate agent and I’ve ordered a few of the books that Brandon had listed. I got some advice from a fellow BP’er to get approved by a lender ahead of time. Anything else we should do to start this new journey? I’m on the forum multiple times a day so thank you to everyone who offers up so much amazing information! I’m so grateful to this whole community.