New Investor from Northern VA

[Kevin Galang]

Hi everyone!

My name is Kevin Galang and I've been lurking BiggerPockets forums on and off for the past year. After deciding not to go $100k in debt for grad school, I ended up teaching myself how to code and became a software engineer. With my mind prepped to be college broke, I found that I had more money in my pay checks than I was mentally ready for. This brought me to learn more about personal finances, FIRE, and REI through BiggerPockets.

For my software skills, I've started a meetup hosted once a month and I've gotten to learn from so many great people while also getting to be a part of other people's success. Now after handling my first eviction this past month, I'm starting to see real estate investing as a skill just like coding. I hope to grow with this community just like my coding community.

So far, I've invested in one townhouse in the Countryside area in Sterling, VA. My goal was to house hack it and I did for a while but as I mentioned, the tenants were not a good fit and I need to improve my tenant screening process. Now, with my funds ready, I thinking of going and finding another investment opportunity for my second investment.

Overall, my goal is to learn to grow a modest real estate business that would give me and my future family financial freedom/independence. Taking it one step further, I hope to be able to teach my nieces and nephews how to create their own financial independence so they can be free to follow their other passions.

Thanks to everyone who's helped out around the forums. I especially remember @Russell Brazil's posts and responses being helpful whenever I search the forums for NoVA related stuff! haha

- Kevin