I Fired My Boss!

[AC Cooley]

Yesterday I fired my boss!

??I have worked in corporate America for exactly 20 years after getting my B.S. in Computer Science in 1993 from Western Illinois University. I am about to enter another phase in my life. I moved my family to the Atlanta area from Chicago exactly one year ago in December 2012. I had just started investing in Real Estate part-time in Chicago. Just when I was getting the hang of it I had to move and learn a brand new real estate market. With the help of my mentor Steve Cook I overcame that challenge.

In a 3 month period between October and December I made in real estate investing what normally takes me 6 months at my corporate job. While learning the Atlanta market I have stuck with wholesaling while looking for rehab deals for myself. I wanted to settle on a target neighborhood that I knew intimately before I committed to rehabbing a project from start to finish.

I didn't know one rehabber, not one investor friendly realtor, not one title attorney before arriving in Atlanta. I had to build everything from scratch. I have wholesaled houses that I have never been inside. I have wholesaled houses in neighborhoods where I did not know a single buyer (Neighborhoods where I have never driven through before). I did not let any of that stop me from excelling.

I have done deals with $19,000 wholesale profits in suburban Fayette county to buying houses for $1,000 in Atlanta war zones and flipping them as-is for a 600% profit. When I bought the house for $1,000 (So it isn't just Detroit where these $1,000 deals can be had LOL) the title attorney told me because of the price he thought it was just some lot with no house. He said in his 17 years of closing real estate transactions that was a personal record low of his. I found several cash buyers that were interested and had a written offer in 3 days.

My first wholesale deal in metro Atlanta the buyer was an investor I met on Biggerpockets. He is a real player in my market and I am sure to work with him again. The BP podcast is my favorite real estate podcast. (Instead of looking to watch "Scandal" on Thursdays I'm checking for new BP episodes on Thursday mornings. LOL)

After much prayer with my wife we decided to have faith and I would resign from my job at a Fortune 100 company and go full time into real estate. This will allow me and my family to live out our vision of how we want to live life. I may not be an overnight millionaire but I will be a "LIFEonaire"!

I will be rehabbing as well wholesaling in 2014. Because of my success I now have people I know asking me how they can participate in my deals as silent money partners. The freedom I now have to work on my business will allow me and my family to have a better quality of life overall not just financially. I give God all the glory!

-A.C.