Greetings from CA

[Alex H.]

Hello BP community. Im a newbie investor, sort of. I have actually done OK in the stock market game. This is where I have dumped money for the purpose of retirement. My plan is to liquidate my taxable brokerage account to finance a SFR or two while maintaining both my wifes and my own Roth IRA.

I have done quite a bit of reading and tossed around the idea of buying a rental about a year ago when I bought my own home. Once I went through the home buying process and saw how fairly straight forward it was I started communicating with an investor/RE agent I made contact with through Craigslist of all places. She had a full time job but bought rentals on the side. I learned a few things from her, but eventually moved on to buy a home in a different area from which I grew up. Originally I am from the heart of SillyCon Valley, Palo Alto. There was no way I was buying anything but a 75 year old shack on the Peninsula for $400k so my wife and I moved out to Oakley, CA to buy a blue light special home in which we could live very comfortably and be well within our means. Being out away from the hustle and bustle of the SF area suits us better, as I had thought it would.

Im currently in the wonderful country of Afghanistan (sarcasm intended) commanding all things electric. Im the sole electrician on a US Military Forward Operating Base outside of Kabul. I loosely work for the DoD. Its been an interesting year to say the least. Im on the back half of my contract and have started the wheels moving toward RE investing upon my return home in May of this year.

This site has provided me with hours of reading material and very good info I plan on using to enhance my retirement. I look forward to getting my feet wet very soon!

-Alex