Newbie from Hawaii looking to start BRRRRing OOS

[Allan Kuaana]

Aloha from Honolulu, Hawaii!

I am an "older" newbie (51 years young) who only recently discovered the wealth building potential of REI. My journey began a short 7 months ago after I spoke to a financial adviser. Looking at my numbers and being that my wife and I really have no debt (mortgage is paid off, no car loans, kids are grown and on their own), I was able to retire from the Honolulu Police Department with a pretty good pension and access to quite a bit of saved up cash. It was then that I was introduced to REI to create passive income.

After being introduced to REI, I began to educate myself as best as I could on the subject. I guess you could say I started to do my due diligence before fully jumping in. My financial adviser's plan was for me to purchase several properties and first trust deeds, both in and outside of a recently opened self-directed IRA. I later discovered that I would be purchasing turnkey properties. I guess this was a good idea for a beginner such as myself to get my feet wet. The plan was to slowly snowball a few properties to a point where I would gradually build my wealth over the course of ten years or so. Great I thought! Passive income plus all the perks that comes with "smart" REI!

I listened to several podcasts and youtube videos and started to learn. Reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad and opened my eyes immensely to what I needed to do…purchase cash flowing assets that would pay for my expenses and liabilities and allow my wife and me to build our wealth.

A few months ago, I found the Bigger Pockets platform on youtube, which led me to the website. I immersed myself in the myriad of topics in the forums, blogs, and podcasts. This led me to the BRRRR method of REI. After listening to Brandon Turner and David Greene explain BRRRR, I purchased and read the book BRRRR and am convinced this is the direction I want to go.

So here I am today, introducing myself to the community and ready to pull the trigger on my first BRRRR investment. We all had to take that first step at some time, right?

[Lane Kawaoka]

@Allan Kuaana You should likely get rid of the financial planner as I have a rule where I don't take financial advice from someone who is not financially free or got rich on the old 2% commission 20% override on you investments.

Hawaii is a primary markets which is NOT ideal for cashflow investing.

Sophisticated investors invest on cashflow where the rents exceed the mortgage plus expenses (and enough money to pay for professional property manage to do our dirty work). They don't gamble and pay active income taxes and go after flips or appreciation.

Sophisticated investors look at the Rent-to-Value Ratio and look for at least 1% or more to be able to cashflow after expenses.