New Member Chicago, IL

[William Wright]

Good morning everyone,

My name is William Wright and I found BiggerPockets as I've been determining my future financial goals. I graduated from university in December 2018 and know that this is the time to get my financial situation in order to make sure I can take advantage of both compounding interest and the opportunity to be a little riskier. I've been listening to the BiggerPockets podcast on my commute to my new job as a mechanical engineer and, while I do not see real estate as an escape from my 8 to 5,  I know that travel, company ownership, and having a family are all possibilities for the future. I want the financial and time freedom to explore these.

The kind of freedom I'm looking for is pretty much summed up in an encounter I had on a ski lift. The guy sitting next to me worked as an engineering consultant, travelling for 1-3 weeks and then coming home to enjoy his life in the mountains. He mentioned he had skied 40+ days in the previous season. The freedom to transition between a professional life and personal passions is what I'm striving for. I realize there are many ways of achieving this - some that I am already working towards - but the challenge of real estate has the additional allure of managing a physical asset in the world.

My goal right now is to learn as much about real estate as possible and purchase a duplex/triplex by summer 2020 so I can move out of my current rental and use my future tenant's rental payment to help pay loans and expenses.

If you're in the Chicago area or have/had similar goals as mine, I'd love to hear your stories. I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with this site and the real estate community!