Sharing my story: Getting my first deal

[Luis Vilar]

Hi BPers! 

I just wanted to share my experience. 

Last year, I started to look into real estate but with the intention of buying a SFR. Talking to a friend at work, he told me about house hacking and how he was saving money. He also talked to me about BiggerPockets. This was probably the best conversation I've ever had.

From that moment, I started reading every single blog and listening to every single podcast. Literally every day I will spend hours listening to the podcast, reading blogs, books, doing spreadsheets and looking for properties. 

I spend about 2-3 months before I put my first offer. I put dozens of offers. Most of rejected and the ones that got accepted, the deal felt through for some reason or the other. Keeping my focus and goals on check was key to not giving up. 

After a year I finally closed on the first property. It is a duplex on South Florida. I will house-hack and save some money. 

My goal is to get a 2nd property before the end of the year. I already started to talk to people about seller's finance. To be honest, I am not sure how I am going to do it, but I will figure out on the fly. 

My end goal is to be FI in 5 years. This is extremely aggressive but I am doing everything to accomplish my goal; real estate, index fund investing, travel hacking, budgeting... everything! 

Hope this help someone on the same position. Just remember, believe in yourself, get educated, read and have clear goals! 

Have a great day!