My story as a new investor

[Brian Knitter]

Hello BiggerPockets!

Been listening for a bit now and wanted to share my story.

I am 50 years old, work a full time job and have been considering investing in RE for years. I got divorced and decided to make my leap into investing. I sold my house for break even in 2013. Went and bought a HUD home for $40,000 and it needed a lot of work. This house was rough. Had pet stains on the floor, it was a National home and the inside looked like a manufactured home with the 'thin' walls. I decided I didn't like that look and started to replace the walls with 2x4 walls and new drywall. I will never forget my electrician coming in and asking, "Who sold you this house?" I told him my realtor who he knew and recommended I use this electrician. And the electrician said, "You should call your realtor and get your money back!" Holy what!?!? My first flip and my electrician says what are you doing!?! So I plugged along, lived in the house 2 years. Rebuilt the inside from the studs up. New walls, kitchen, bath, paint, everything. I spent about $40-45K for my remodel. I thought my ARV would be around $90 and I was happy with that as I would live there two years, pay down the debt and sell with no capital gains taxes. I listed two years later and sold for $114K! Made around $45K profit. Bonus! I was so happy. I started looking for my next home to live in. The market was saturated in 2016-17 I bid on 6 homes and didn't win one of the bids! I was getting frustrated. I finally missed my window and would have to move twice. I knew I wanted a rental and my real estate agent and mentor told me maybe we buy the rental now? I started to look for a cash house to purchase and found one in a c type neighborhood. I moved in and in two months I realized that not having a house payment was fantastic! I found another HUD home for sale and decided to make a low ball bid on it as it needed the entire water system replaced. They accepted my offer and I moved in and used a CHARM loan to finance and repair the water system for the home. I then rented out the cash home I purchased. Purchased the house for $52K and it rents for $800/mo. These numbers worked for me. Fast forward to 2019 and I studied and obtained my real estate license. I then sold my first home as an agent (it was my supervisors house I listed and found a buyer in 5 days) I look forward to helping other buy and sell their homes as an agent.

So I have branched out from being an IT guy working 24 years for one company to taking a chance on real estate.   I am now 18 months into being a landlord and my property cash flows.   I am now putting the entire rent payment into the saving account for the rental.   Its now at $5K and building.   In Aug 2020 I will have $10K in a saving account that is my rental cash flow and repair fund.   When it hits $20K or whatever I can take the cash out and reinvest or use the $ for my own personal gain.   I am looking for my next rental and I look forward to building a portfolio of rental properties to finance my retirement and make it possible to retire early and play more golf!   I also have a plan to buy vacation property and either rent it out or make it a VRBO and finance it that way.    This site is the best place for insight, motivation, information and help with questions and situations that may arise.   Can't thank you enough for the info and the site.   I hope you enjoyed my story and I look forward to adding and updating!