Hello from the South Bay, Los Angeles, CA!!!

[Mark Tabah]

Hello Bigger Pockets community!

I'm Mark Tabah, currently residing in Redondo Beach, CA and working in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.  

I work at the beautiful Terranea Resort for PSAV, North America's leader in audio/visual/IT services in over 1500 locations.  I earned a BA from Wheaton College in Norton, MA, double-majoring in Economics & Philosophy and competing as part of the NCAA DIII Track & Field Team (Pole Vault & sprints).

I'm here as a beginner in Real Estate, hoping to close on my first deal 1Q 2019!

I've spent the past 2.5 years reading, listening, learning, deal-making, and saving to get to his point.  

I took the time to zero-out all debts, getting a private-money loan to pay off all my credit card debt at once and paying it back with a greatly small percentage over an 18-month period. I've been able to increase my income by 10-12% year-over-year; I pay myself ~25% of my monthly income (that jumps up closer to 30% when taking into account 6% Roth IRA contribution).

I also used that time to educate myself - confession, I've been lurking on the site for a while now, reading tons of posts and soaking up all the brilliant BP knowledge!  I've also tuned into a bunch of BP webinars and listened to 100s of RE-focused podcasts.  

I'm looking to buy and hold (active & passive) in the Indianapolis, Indiana and Phoenix, Arizona markets for single-family and small multi-family properties in the 2-8 unit range. 

If you've gotten this far, thank you for taking the time to read!  I look forward to learning from you and hopefully being able to lend a hand or an encouraging word.  Thank you!

Mark

[Ali Boone]

Hi Mark! Well welcome and congrats on all the prep you've done to get ready for investing. I'm just north of you up in Venice.

When you say "active and passive", do you mean to buy some properties you have to put work into and some that you don't? If putting work in, are you thinking of rehabbing from afar? And then MFRs 2-8 units... just be aware that 2-4 units is residential classification and 5-8 units will be commercial. Not a big deal but completely different animals as far as financing, etc. I'd say with all of those to just be cautious on the numbers and make sure they work. Same for Phoenix- Phoenix doesn't have much on the cash flow front anymore like it used to. Indy still does.

Why those two markets in particular?