3 years experience buying houses, new to BP

[Frank D'Alessandro]

Hello everyone!

My name is Frank and I'm born and raised in Southern California. I'm 28 years old and I live in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. I've worked in television since I as 18 and have been freelance since I was about 23 years old. I go from show to show and it allows me to save up larger than normal sums of money. Although I don't have any kids and am not married, I don't save as much as I could and have an awesome life. This will change in the 2019 year. 

I've still managed to acquire 3 properties. My first one in 2015 when I was 25 was in San Antonio, Texas. It needed a little work and then I leased to own it under my successful uncle's direction. I regret doing this, as I could have sold that property for $40k more now all while collecting rent.

In 2017 I bought a 5/4 2600 sq. ft. In Los Angeles. This is my main residence and I rent out the 4 other bedrooms, leaving me with about $600 to pay every month. This low monthly nut is incredible. Like I said, I should have a lot more saved up. But at one point I had 2 brand new cars, I'm always upgrading my house, I go on trips, buy nice things, dinners etc. I will change this in 2019 and save much more.

This year, I used hard money to buy a SFR house in Texas with an already framed addition of about 900 sq. ft. I stupidly trusted a realtor who said it would need much less money than I've spent in order to flip. It's 6 months in and I still have so much money to spend in order to complete and sell. I really messed up but I have to finish it in order to cut my losses. I have a YouTube channel on my profile with several videos if you want to get visuals on my house.

Although I'm not nearly out of the woods yet (can't even see any damn light at the end of the tunnel), it hasn't stopped me from looking beyond to the next deal. I've read about syndication and the concept of buying more doors to have more cash flow instead of SFRs. I think I need to think bigger than just one door at a time. The reason I wanted to flip houses was to increase my cash to buy bigger properties. 

My goals are many, but ultimately I'd like to be able to stop selling my labor for good. I want to be able to make deals, hire contractors to renovate, refinance, rent, sell, all without doing any manual labor or having any other job. I'd also like to deal with property closer to home in Southern CA instead of out of state. But it's extremely expensive here. 

Thanks for listening! Any advice is appreciated. Love reading everyone's posts!