New BP Member from Central Florida

[Craig Gaydas]

Howdy BP members,

My name is Craig Gaydas, and I am new to both Bigger Pockets and to REI in general. Just a little bit about me: I have been a supply chain procurement and operations professional for over 20 years involved in every facet of manufacturing from warehousing, to production, to procurement. I actually found this forum via Youtube and after watching just one of Brandon Turner's podcasts I was like "this guy is as wacky as me" so I joined the BP forums. After watching his podcast on how to invest in real estate with little or no money down I immediately signed up as a Pro member.

My wife is taking her real estate agent's exam soon and we hope to begin our real estate investing adventure starting in the Ocala-Gainesville area with flipping and LTR's and eventually branching out to a couple solid STR's in the Destin area where we hope to retire someday. After signing up for Pro we immediately purchased Brandon's book on real estate investing and we are currently searching our market area for opportunities. Hopefully we can even hopefully meet up with a couple BP members via Marion County REIA or the Emerald Coast REIA.

Oh and what do I hope to gain from switching my focus on manufacturing everything from MRI machines, to Airfryers, to Sonic Care toothbrushes and negotiating million dollar deals with Fortune 500 companies? Is it money? Is it fame? Do I want my name on large towers in downtown Manhattan?

Nope, financial freedom. It's time for us to begin our true passion: travel.

PS: Side note about me. I have 6 books published on Amazon. All are fiction...all are ridiculous.

This is Craig, signing off. :)

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Craig Gaydas:

Howdy BP members,

My name is Craig Gaydas, and I am new to both Bigger Pockets and to REI in general. Just a little bit about me: I have been a supply chain procurement and operations professional for over 20 years involved in every facet of manufacturing from warehousing, to production, to procurement. I actually found this forum via Youtube and after watching just one of Brandon Turner's podcasts I was like "this guy is as wacky as me" so I joined the BP forums. After watching his podcast on how to invest in real estate with little or no money down I immediately signed up as a Pro member.

My wife is taking her real estate agent's exam soon and we hope to begin our real estate investing adventure starting in the Ocala-Gainesville area with flipping and LTR's and eventually branching out to a couple solid STR's in the Destin area where we hope to retire someday. After signing up for Pro we immediately purchased Brandon's book on real estate investing and we are currently searching our market area for opportunities. Hopefully we can even hopefully meet up with a couple BP members via Marion County REIA or the Emerald Coast REIA.

Oh and what do I hope to gain from switching my focus on manufacturing everything from MRI machines, to Airfryers, to Sonic Care toothbrushes and negotiating million dollar deals with Fortune 500 companies? Is it money? Is it fame? Do I want my name on large towers in downtown Manhattan?

Nope, financial freedom. It's time for us to begin our true passion: travel.

PS: Side note about me. I have 6 books published on Amazon. All are fiction...all are ridiculous.

This is Craig, signing off. :)

What are these ridiculous books about?

[Craig Gaydas]

Originally posted by @James Wise:

What are these ridiculous books about?

 A little bit of everything. Some SCI-FI, some action, some thriller. It's like brain stew.

[Andrew Davis]

@Craig Gaydas welcome! Sounds like you've had an interesting journey... my wife is an author as well so I'm partial to crazy creatives.

You have stumbled upon a goldmine of knowledge and a fantastic network, you'll find everything you need here to succeed in your REI journey and start traveling the world.

I'm down in Orlando area - reach out anytime!

[Charlie Cameron]

Welcome @Craig Gaydas! I’m helping folks with STRs in the Destin area. I can see why you’d want to retire here. You can’t beach the view and the beaches!

Best of luck to you.

[Justin Windham]

@Craig Gaydas

Welcome to Bigger Pockets!

This is a great place to learn and network. A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.

The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members. I like the search features: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search

Alerts can be really helpful too: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

There are a few self-contained guides that you can access here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides

[Stetson Miller]

@Craig Gaydas Welcome to the forums! I am also fairly new to investing and I really enjoyed Brandon Turner's "The Book On Rental Property Investing," ounds like you would too! I have lived in destin for the past 22 years, so if you have any questions about certain areas or properties, I can do my best to answer them from a locals perspective, best of luck!

[Tyler Gibson]

@Craig Gaydas Welcome to the forums. I am a Realtor and rental property investor down here in Orlando. Feel free to reach out if you ever need anything. @Andrew Davis is also a great resource and has always been willing to help me. 

[Marelyn Valdes]

Welcome to the forum and to investing in Ocala!