My first property the BP way!!

[Account Closed]

FIRST I want to say THANK YOU to the Bigger Pockets community for any support they have offered when I needed it and also a BIG THANK YOU to superstars @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner for the Amazing job they do day in and day out on Bigger Pockets.....I would have never taken the leap had I not been introduced to this website....The amount of knowledge that I was able to learn in the past year made it possible for me to jump in with both feet....Without BP, I am still working in a job I hate and my aspirations to create wealth through real estate most likely never become anything more than a dream...

Because of my association with the Bigger Pockets community I was able to gain confidence through learning, make the right financial decisions, and I met a wholesaler on the BP website who sold me my very first investment property!!!! Thank you @Kevin Crowell for making the process so seamless. Kevin walked me through the process and explained to me some of what I did not understand......he is completely transparent and willing to share his knowledge with others!! 

I want to share my story with the hopes that it may help someone else find their inner courage to follow there dreams too.....!

My story goes like this......

The job I held for 21 years came to a sudden end when the Pharmaceutical company I was employed by made the announcement that they were closing there doors. I knew my life was about to change. I was a high school dropout without a college degree. 

 I spent a lot of days in my pajamas....the depression and the fear set in after a couple of weeks. I managed to start moving my feet little by little and eventually took a job making half the income. I also went back to school and obtained my GED and then enrolled in a community college. Still attending. 

After about a year in, I woke up one morning and walked into my boyfriends office, tears rolling down my cheeks. I boo hoo'd to him about how unhappy I was in my current job and I was frustrated because I didn't know what I wanted to do with the rest of my career. His response changed my life and is the reason I have this story to share with you today!!

He said " Why don't you take advantage of the time you spend at work and learn more about real estate?" .....He went on to say that every time I talked about real estate my eyes lit up. ( I had been obsessed with looking at real estate on line since the crash) Then he suggested that I start googling You Tube videos or podcasts about real estate and learn everything I can....

So I went off to work that day and started to do just that. I would get half way through a podcast and realize that they were selling a product. Then I would listen to a different one and the same thing would happen. I kept going, Thank God!! The third podcast I found was different. I knew it right away. I hung on every word. These were real people just like me talking about there passion for real estate investing. Sharing there knowledge with others.

I pulled my phone out to look at the name of the podcast. When I finished listening to the first one I googled another one and then another one. I LOVED what I was hearing. Bursting with excitement I ran home that day to tell my boyfriend what I had discovered. Afterwards, I googled the name Bigger Pockets and much to my surprise there was an entire community for real estate investors.....I felt like I had just hit the jackpot! Over the next 6 months or so I listened to every podcast, some of them twice. Once I had caught up with them I would anticipate for Thursday to come to listen to the new podcast....I listened to Rich Dad Poor Dad on audible while I was at work. All of a sudden going to work was no longer a bummer. It was more like going to college FOR FREE!! I took notes, lots and lots of notes....lol

I bought Jay Scott's book on rehabbing, then I bought Brandon's book on managing rental properties and started to read it. I listened to the webinars. I did all the things on the site that was suggested. With working full time and going to school I didn't have much spare time to engage on the site. 

Where does that leave me today?

I recently quit that job that I hated....and I now work part-time for Apple....( LOVE MY JOB!!) Which provides me with good solid benefits and gives me more time to focus on real estate and school. I made the decision to quit my full time job sooner than I had originally planned. You can plan the plan however the outcome is beyond our control. I knew the opportunity at Apple was the right one and I couldn't continue to do both without killing myself. So I prayed for clarity and it became clear to me that it was time to take that leap of faith and invest in myself..... In anticipation of quitting that full time job I made some moves financially, used IRA money to pay off debt which allowed me to qualify for a 60K HELOC. I have 20K of equity in my car if needed. And if we needed to we would be able to rent our current home. We live in an A plus neighborhood and our house would rent for at the very least 2K. Our mortgage, taxes and insurance is only half of that number so it would cash flow nicely. Hence we have many alternate strategies to fall back on.....thanks to the plethora of knowledge on BP I have been able to think more creatively.

After several months of looking at properties with an agent I finally bought my first investment property December 10, 2016.....I ended up buying it from a wholesaler that I met on BP....we are currently rehabbing said property and I am starting to get my ducks in a row so that I will be ready to start looking for the right tenant.

Here are some steps I took first as a direct result of what I learned here on Bigger Pockets:

• I was able to determine what niche was the right fit for me
• I figured out my freedom number
• I made a committment 
• I was able to evaluate my first deal successfully 
• I was able to make a cash offer/purchase 
• I hired a real estate attorney/investor for guidance and to set up an LLC
• I set up a separate bank account solely for the new property 

To name just a few, and here are my numbers to date:

This is a 3/1 SFH, 1100 sq. ft, purchase price 19K, rehab budget 7K, estimated ARV 35/40K, average area rents 750-850 per month.

Plan is to do the BRRRR strategy and cash out refinance.

Pictures to follow once rehab is complete!

Our second property is on the horizon....we have a couple of properties we are currently interested in and we are sitting on an offer we placed on a short sale a couple of months ago. 

First I need to thank my boyfriend Regis for always encouraging me to think differently and to believe in myself! Thank you babe!! I could not have made it here without you:)

I also owe a debt of gratitude to BP and this community for all of the help and guidance that is offered here....I would not have jumped in without the encouragement and the knowledge shared on Bigger Pockets!!!

So THANK YOU Bigger Pockets, from the bottom of my heart!!

Stay tuned!!!!

@Kevin Crowell