Total Newbie from Austin, TX

[Gordon Ray]

Hello everyone!

My name is Gordon and I'm totally new the idea of real estate investing. The past year has been an education in a lot of ways to make my money begin to work for itself. I think I've always had the dream of working part-time but earning a full time wage in the process. I spent my 20s and most of the 30s working in the customer support ecosystem, and the last 6 of those as a people manager. 

To level and get to brass tacks, I want to be my own boss. I want to make an income that allows me and my family to be comfortable. My dream would be to be with my family more than I'm "working". The freedom to travel and enjoy life rather than spending all of my effort to line the pockets of others. 

We just bought our first home, through that process my eyes have been opened a little more. This naivete is what sent me through life thinking I could never afford it, that I will never have enough of a down payment to own property. Let alone invest in real estate for the purpose of building wealth. I'm still absolutely naive about the whole process, but I have a desire to learn, grow, and succeed.

Not related to Real Estate, I'm 36 and married. We have two cats and one dog (she's a rare quiet and calm chihuahua), we are building a home in Leander, TX but currently live in an apartment in NW Austin. My wife and I are trying to build our family and live our life to the fullest.  

I look forward to meeting all of you and I am happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

-Gordon

[Randall Alan]

@Gordon Ray,

Congratulations - you have taken the first step... which is the hardest... which is, "To Begin"!!!

Real estate can be very rewarding, but is is a mountain you must climb to achieve your goals.  In rentals, for instance, one could reasonably make $300-400 a door a month net after fixed costs of financing/insuring/repair reserve.  So you can do the quick math and say, "How many rentals would it take to make how many dollars I feel like I need to be comfortable, as you mention.  If you said, "$60,000/year" thats somewhere around 17 rentals producing full time, and no major expenses coming up... which is a bit far fetched, but for the sake of numbers alone, that is what it would be.  

With that all being said, things break, there is turnover, there is rehab and other capital expenses, etc.  If you are self employed, you probably will need to provide your own health insurance, so there is a few extra rentals you will need just for that! (ugh!) etc, etc. So there is a lot of weeds around the concept that real estate is passive.  

We have about 40 rentals that we self-manage - and while it is a very relaxed pace job, it keeps us pretty busy on a daily basis.  We actually like that.  You would get bored just sitting around all day with nothing productive to do.  We kept working our day-jobs until we were at about 20 rentals, which was enough income to replace one of our salaries, then kept growing the business until the other one of us could quit.  

Your next step is to save up enough money to buy your first rental property... or possibly, sell your own house you just bought.. making that the rental property and to move into another one.  There are tons of other options though besides rentals... there's wholesaling, flips, etc too.  Regardless, It's about focus, and diligence toward a goal, some self-sacrifice (like not buying the new car, but saving for the new property, etc).

Wish you all the best!

Randy