S Quadrant With Capital & BRRRR/FIRE Dreams in Fort Lauderdale FL

[Hoxie Ackerman]

Hey, BiggerPockets community! My name is Hoxie Ackerman, I'm in my early 30's, and I'm new to real estate investing.

I'm currently in the "S" corner of Robert Kiyosaki's cashflow quadrant. I've spent the past few years building and running a lucrative one-man service business that has its pluses, but it's not something that I want to do forever. I'm interested in using real estate investments to provide the cashflow for an early retirement.

I have low 6-figures (and growing) in capital saved up that I'm slowly but surely dollar-cost-averaging into index funds, my investment strategy for most of my investing career. However, I'd like to spend a chunk of it doing an entry-level, long-distance BRRRR and learning a ton about real estate investing in the process.

That's my goal for 2019: a long-distance, entry-level BRRRR. Total cost (including purchase and rehab) should come in under $100k. I'd like to emerge from the Refinance with most or all of my money back, having built some equity in the property, and it should cashflow once it's mortgaged, rented, and being run by an awesome property manager. But I realize that my first deal might not be a home run, and I'm willing to accept that in exchange for knowledge and experience, especially while the stakes are lower.

To prepare for this project, I recently reread Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Cashflow Quadrant. I also read How to Invest in Real Estate (great job, @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner), and I'm working my way through The Book on Rental Property Investing and @David Greene Long-Distance Real Estate Investing. (Really looking forward to that BRRRR book later this year, David!) I'll be picking up the new J Scott books in a few days to help get a better idea of what to expect during the Rehab phase.

I've attended some BP webinars and have listened to 50+ BP podcast episodes, mostly the more recent episodes related to basics, BRRRR, and long-distance investing. (Would love to get into small multi-family one day, but I'm not there yet.) I absolutely love the commitment to self-improvement, self-awareness, intention, and excellence that Brandon and David (plus past hosts and guests) bring to the table.

I'm excited to move this along.

I'm also excited to have recently discovered the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. I lead a frugal, efficient life in a city that's all about conspicuous consumption, and it's so encouraging to be reminded that smart money decisions will pay off in the not-too-distant future. I recently read Set For Life by @Scott Trench and really enjoyed it - kinda Mr. Money Mustache with a thoughtful real estate perspective. (It also helped me overcome a mental hurdle that always bothered me - Jacob in "Early Retirement Extreme" budgets just a few hundred dollars per month for housing, and I never saw a way to realistically do that until I learned about house-hacking. Awesome!) So big thanks to @Mindy Jensen and Scott for doing such a great job with that podcast.

And a big thanks in general to the BiggerPockets community - there seems to be a ton of great information on here, and I'm excited to be getting into the world of real estate.

In terms of a path forward, I'm in the process of finding a market that will support my price point. I suspect that "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" will be the main book that I use for this project, given David's experience doing long-distance BRRRRs, but there are obviously plenty of other great materials out there too.

Any long-distance BRRRR'ers with helpful words of wisdom to share?