You chose Real Estate why?

Question

I thought this would be a good lazy sunday forum. Although alot of us are able to remain focused on the task at hand, every now and then it's nice to think back to what got you started into real estate. So, with that said, I'm going to share a personal story with you all as to why I got started.

In 2011, my father lost his job and eventually the house we grew up in, to foreclosure. Now, I was 18 at the time, out of the house on my own already, but it still was very hard to go through as I had two younger brothers still living at home. Seeing the disappointment, embarrassment and sadness on father's face is something I will never forget. We had always prevailed, but not this time. They moved out of the house and into a nice rental(or so we thought). There was a period of bad storms that caused the basement of the home they were renting to flood. The landlord did nothing about it. The property owner did nothing about it. Mold grew. Long story short, lawsuit was filed and won, moved out to a new rental and are doing good now.

Moral of the story: I don't ever want to find myself in a place where I could lose the most valuable possession to my name and I want to be able to provide people with a living situation that provides them comfort and peace, not stress and turmoil. That's my inspiration, especially now that I have an infant daughter that I want to provide the world to.

What's your inspiration BP?

Jonathan Casillas · Answer

I grew up in a house hold that was poor. My dad did the best he could (worked 14+ hours). But still we had more month at the end of the money. I there where many days that he would come home from a long day at work and not eat. I thought "dad must not be hungry". Well now I know better. At those points we did not have enough food to feed us (5 kids) and him so he went without to make sure we had. At around 13 I started working and helping around the house buying grocery's and such. I remember thinking I would never grow up to be this poor. I have fallen short of this goal many times with my own family but still push both for my own family and to show my dad he instilled in me the work ethic and drive to push on. So I guess long story short. I got into real estate because we where always renters and I seen how landlords maid money with real estate. I decided that this would be my way as well. NOTE: I am not a landlord and don't plan to be (thinking owner financing out). But its where I started.

Mike Watkins · Answer

I used to be a tenant. And I was the only one responsible enough to take the cash to the landlord. One of the other guys was read at the high school and wrote a bad check to the landlord said we had to bring it to her in cash. Every time I would show up she would be out on the front porch smoking a cigarette. All she did was sit at home and got rent checks from other people. Then I got an inheritance and decided to buy a house. I made a cash offer and eight months later they decided to sell it to me. It was a short sale. I fixed it up. I rented it out and never looked back.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

Freedom.  Freedom from commuting an hr each way saving and slaving in a cubicle for 30+ years working under 'company policies'.  Freedom to create and invest without commutes or answering to 'the man.'

Grew up in poor logging community in MT.  Graduated HS to no jobs, mills closing down. USMC infantry 4yrs, then BS in Financial Mgt.  Moved to Denver to work in large financial community.  Received "Bright Idea" award of $5k for saving them $1.6M.  Moved to central WA to get a larger piece of the pies I bake.  Great thread @Josh Kellum.  Thanks for sharing your story!

Josh Kellum · Answer

Thank you all for sharing your stories! The common ground is that we all want freedom from a life that otherwise would be mundane and unsatisfying! Best of luck and success to you all. @Jonathan Casillas @Steve Vaughan @William Brace Joseph Gozlan

James DeRoest · Answer

I got into it because I have an addiction for fast cars.

I managed to string a few good years together and I could buy houses or a fast car each year. My future wife told me of deals she could get and frankly they seemed a better bet than buying a 911, so I was all in.

And I've said before, would have lost less money on the 911, but I persisted, and bought more. Lost a bucket load of more money of those ones, sold the cursed duplex, and then got right with God and did things properly.

Now the addiction is buying more property. Having said that, this year we're taking a break from buying houses. So we've only bought three.

Joseph Gozlan · Answer

for me it was simply the best investment strategy. I grew up in a poor, single family household and worked my ass off to get my engineering degree.

I worked for multiple publicly traded companies and learned the hard truth that the share price has NOTHING to do with how the company is doing business wise. It was all rumor based and speculations.

I looked around, studies the many options out there an realized RE is the avenue I trust the most with my money. Simple really :-)

You chose Real Estate why?

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