Little fish in a HUGE pond

[Michael Wallace]

Hello all,

I am not new to bigger pockets, as I have been a member since 2018 and actively listen to the podcasts, but I am new to posting on here. I bought my first single family home when I was 24 years old, its now one of my rental properties, and was a great deal. I have 3 houses right now for a total of 5 units. One single family, and two 2 family properties. I am in the Syracuse, NY area and looking to network. I currently work as a traveling territory sales manager for NAPA auto parts, and manage all of my units as well. I hope to scale much bigger this year and move into the commercial/industrial real estate sector, as well as fix and flip a few houses a year eventually. I currently have a portfolio of about $400k but looking to expand exponentially this year. I'm looking to start networking with other real estate investors in the area as well as lenders, realtors, contractors, wholesalers, etc...

I bought my first rental property in March of 2018 and have since acquired a second 2 family then moved out of my first house and rented that as well. The deal I'm most proud of is my duplex in Canastota, NY. I bought it as a foreclosure from a bank auction. This was my second investment property. It was built in 2004 but had been vacant for about a year when it was sold. I took a chance on it and paid $105k after a 5% auction fee. I closed on the house and immediately got to work. It needed paint, appliances, a few fixtures and some good ol' TLC. I was still fairly new to the game as this was only my second investment property, but I felt more relaxed this time around. After putting about two months and $5,000 into one unit, I finally had it rented for $1,100 with a 1 year lease. I then spent another month and another $5,000 getting the other unit ready to go and rented that for $1,300 to a long term tenant. When I had that lease signed, I finally felt like I was fully immersed into the real estate game, and I was hooked. Since then I have purchased a new primary residence and rented my first house that I paid $86,000 for 5 years prior, for $1,450 a month on a 2 year lease. I am currently actively searching for commercial properties for long term buy and hold, as well as larger multi-unit investment deals, and fix and flip properties. I'm always interested in meeting new people in the business and connecting with people who have similar goals as mine. I'm excited to start the next chapter in my investing career and hope to soon make this a full-time "job".