Teacher to Investor: New Member Intro

[David Sapp]

    Hello everyone. My name is David, I am twenty-seven and from the mid Michigan area. I am a high school teacher, but always wanted to use that degree to travel the world and teach English. Currently and for the last couple years I have been living in Beijing, China. I was lucky enough to get here just before the pandemic, and life has been great. 

     As many of you I joined BiggerPockets out of the desire to start investing in real estate. I quickly realized, as many teachers outside the U.S do, is that time is limited as far as being able to teach abroad. At some point you need to bite the bullet and start teaching in the U.S so that you can receive a pension. However, moving home to teach isn't very appealing to me at the moment, not only do I enjoy my life here in Beijing, but the money is far better than what I could expect as teacher in Michigan. Thus I realized real estate investing could be my way out of having to rely on a pension, but also the freedom to go and live where every I want.

   At the moment I have not invested in any property. I am still saving for my first down payment, which I should have in a few months, and who knows, maybe the market will cool off by then. In the mean time I am reading, listening, and watching as much content as I can so when the time comes I will be better prepared. I have found a mentor, and possibly an accountant. I think this is a good start as far as team building goes, but only time will tell. 

 Currently I don't know if I will enter into partnerships or go it alone (I have a couple friends, that are also on BiggerPockets), or what my niche will be. Right now I am heavily leaning towards student housing or multifamily homes throughout Michigan, preferably in West/ Mid Michigan. That said, I am going to use these next few months to practice analyzing deals, and expanding my network.  Hopefully I will encounter some people who have invested, or started investing while living abroad. 

Thank you for reading! 

Recommendations Please!

Books I have read so far:

"Rich Dad Poor Dad: Rich Dad's Guide to Investing"- Robert Kiyosaki

"The ABC's of Real Estate Investing"- Ken McElroy

"Loopholes of Real Estate" - Garrett Sutton

"Bigger Pockets: How to Invest in Real Estate" - Brandon Turner & Joshua Dorkin 

"E-Myth" - Michael Gerber

Books in que: 

"The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing" - Ken McElroy

"Think and Grow Rich" - Napoleon Hill

"Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" - David Greene

"How I turned $1,000 into Five Million in Real Estate in My Spare Time" - William Nickerson

"The 4-Hour Workweek" -Timothy Ferriss