Getting Back on Track in Kansas City, MO

[Clay G.]

Hello BiggerPockets, I've been sort of lurking for long time and trying to educate myself, but after doing a little math at the end of 2019 and realizing that from mid-2017 to the end of 2019 our net worth went up about 10% total, I have realized that I need to try and make 2020 the year I try to start actually making deals.

A little about myself: My wife and I have "decent" paying W2 jobs which take up most of our time, so we are looking for something a little more passive (NNN or Apartment Syndication are the two that seem the "jump out" at me through my research). I definitely understand that these offer less in gains, but given our schedules, I think that this arena is where we should be looking, especially based on our previous experiences in this area.

Real estate experience: My wife and I don't make enough money to accurately describe ourselves as "whales," but we make enough money that I would describe our experience as "whale-like" in the sense of people taking advantage of the fact that we had some money and no experience. We lost money on the first house we bought (a duplex where we lived on one side and rented the other) when we became landlords on both doors when we could not sell it when we bought a different house in 2007 (which we also lost our shirt on). Bad tenants, bad property manager, losing money based on timing... the whole thing soured us. Here in Kansas City we rented for a while before buying and, again, it seems like we perfectly timed being out of the market and getting back in, to miss any growth and buy at/near the top again -- and then get taken advantage of by the trades before moving in.

So, not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but that is kind of the "mindset" I have going into this, but I know I need to change.

As far as my plans for making a change, I've tried to take some of the BP advice to heart and I am going to the Mid-America REI club meeting tomorrow. If I were to have a single question for BP as I am introducing myself it would generally be what you would advise for trying to get to know people while I have my background of skepticism? (For example, I want to be clear that I think what I offer right now is really just as a passive investor, but I don't want to give off the vibe of being a novice that can be hoodwinked in that process - what would you do? I also get that my current mindset is probably overly negative, so I don't want to be sending that out into the universe and driving people away as my first impression)

I am also realistic about what I offer (in the form of investor) is really just money and in 2020 everyone is just flush with money and infinite lines of credit at 3.5%, so it's not like it would have been in 2008 or so. But I just want to start digging in and meeting the people in my area that can actually lead to deals rather than the negative rate of return stuff that makes its way to loopnet.