Why did YOU take the plunge?

[Miles Stanley]

Hello all,

I'm a civil engineer and have always thought that this was my calling in life. I learned though as I made my way up the ladder and finally got my professional engineering license that the higher I went, the less actual engineering I got to be involved with. It seems like my day is typically more about answering phone calls and emails and trying to keep underlings busy.  I get to review the designs of my interns and approve/comment on them.  Any "design" I get to do in my company is usually so dictated by local and state design codes that they almost take the engineering/creativity out of the equation and you just end up conforming to endless lists of requirements (which can be extremely tedious to learn and keep up with).  Sometimes I feel like a glorified paper pusher.  It’s not ALL bad, but it’s certainly not exactly what I signed up for either.

I stumbled onto real estate investing a year or so ago, not that I don’t own a home and so forth, but I never really considered using property to make money passively instead of trading my time (a good chunk of it actually) for money and coming home each night to only a few hours of personal time before I have to go to bed, get up, rinse, repeat…

Thank you corporate slavery!

By the time the weekend hits, I don’t feel like doing much because then I have to shift gears to other tasks that have piled up in the meantime.  

When i first started getting into real estate investing i must confess i was a little starry-eyed at the prospect.  Nevertheless, i feel i have now researched enough to get started, listened to the wisdom of great investors who have come before me and and am more excited than ever about real estate investing.  I am planning to do my first deal this year.  I’m hoping this will change my life as so many others have had happen to them (knowing full well the amount of time, energy and sacrifice that goes into getting established also).

Now that I’m done venting, I would like to hear from others who may have had similar stories.  What made you get into real estate? The prospect of financial freedom? Boredom? Something else?

I'm interested to hear your stories?

Thanks,

Miles S.

[Dorothy Ma]

@Miles Stanley, I have a similar background having worked in the a/e/c industry in architecture. I've always believed architect as designer and developer made the most sense, and for me it's about having design freedom to create better spaces that are not purely financial and developer driven.  Owning renting properties and doing fix and flips in the past few years has allowed me to get into new construction development.