level of education/occupation determines success??!!

[David Zheng]

Hi all!

Just needing a little motivation for the beg. of the week. I was just wondering if people are willing to share their level or education or what kind of full time job (if not real estate) that they have and their level of success with real estate.

of course if you make a lot more money, its easily to play with properties, but I want to hear about the 30 year old plumbers who own and manage 30 properties on the side, etc.

Personally I just graduated Washington University in St.Louis with a dual major in finance and accounting and now I'm working at wells fargo as a trader. I started investing this year and now hold 6 properties, but I feel like I'm behind....so many people seem to be getting 10-20 properties a year and its depressing me.

so lets hear it! show me what can be accomplished!

[William Jenkins]

Undergrad in Finance and MBA in finance as well. I am also in the St. Louis area.

As previously mentioned I would be careful of measuring your success based on the number of units you have. If someone told me they had 200 properties it would be meaningless in my eyes. What's your leverage, how much "real" equity do you have in them, what's your cash flow, etc., etc. You are a finance guy too so you know where I am going with it.

I would be careful about scaling up too quickly especially in this market. Deals are on very thin margin here unless you trip into something off market or in a niche area.

I would suggest managing what you have and only acquire choice deals. I expect a bit of a correction personally and that may be your opportunity.

Quality and stability over quantity.....