Let's start at the beginning.

I am officially working on my first deal and I hope to use this blog to journal the journey and share my ups and downs.  The deal is in it's infancy and it came about from a chance conversation during a chance meeting with an old friend.  

But it didn't happen by chance.

It wouldn't be right to start a blog on Bigger Pockets without first saying thank you. Thank you to all of you who put your time and energy into all of us who are just realizing the possibilities, who are struggling with fear, who are chomping at the bit to jump in with both feet, and, well you know the deal. Thank you for sharing your experience, your failures, your lessons, your advice.  

OK, mushy thanks and praise aside, keep sharing what you know.  Those of us who are just starting out, we are grateful and should do the same as we learn and grow in REI.

This post will be a little about my first deal, but mostly about me - who I am and where I came from and why I'm here. If you can stand it, read on. If not you might skip ahead to the next post (when I post it.) I hope that someone who is going through any of the same things will see they are not alone and they are not the first. Just move forward and remember, sometimes you win - sometimes you learn.  

June 10, 2016

Let's back up a little and start at the beginning. I started here on BP on June 10, 2016. I can't really say where I heard about BP, but I did and here I came.  I was so new, my very first forum post was redacted before it even went up.  I didn't think I was breaking any guidelines but Mindy kindly showed me the error of my ways, I adjusted the post and away we went.

I started by watching my first weekly broadcast by our friendly neighborhood Brandon Turner. Then I started reading a ton of blog posts and listening to old podcasts through the week and watched another episode of hyped up BP Brandon. 

What I learned the first few weeks was basically - I wish someone had told me this decades ago when I could have done more about it financially etc.  I could have been so far ahead by now and not trapped under the weight of my current home.  I mean really - who is stupid enough to buy a home with an 80/20 mortgage at 7.1 and 7.9% respectively? (Shyly putting my hand in the air.)

Ok that pitty party lasted way too long, about six months. I was 11 years into this mortgage and had tried numerous times to refinance at lower rates but various complications got in the way of my conventional solution methods. 

So months of hemming and hawing, learning more, and wallowing in self pity ensued until I finally ran with the Grant Cardone philosophy - you can't blame anyone but yourself.  It may have happened to you, but you made the choices to get you to that point - so take responsibility and get yourself to the next point. 'Nuf Said!

Finally it was time to take all that I have learned in various ways and start putting it to use. I simply made the decision - I will make this happen. But I had to answer the question - why?

Why make it happen?

Our family has survived for some time and I had to be honest with myself - I wanted my family to do more than survive.  I want them to succeed. Why not?  Far too long I have been given the impression that Christians had to be ragged and poor. I am not intending to proselytize but to express why I personally am making a choice to do what I am doing.  If it helps another make the leap in to REI or start up a conversation with me about my religion - then both are great things.

So why shouldn't we run the race in a manner to win the prize? Why shouldn't we set our children up for success?  Why shouldn't we prepare for a comfortable retirement instead of working for someone else until we can't stand any more? I am sure many people feel the same and wonder why they shouldn't do it. Well you should. so to that end I started talking.

I started talking to everyone I knew - who I thought might be in my corner.  Not just anyone. Too many people can't see beyond their nine to five.  Can't begin to imagine a better life or extra money to go out and eat more than once every six months. As we have all heard - you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.  I started talking to those who would be intrigued.  Who have succeeded already. Who might even want to get in on it.  Those who would feed my fire. 

Of course it wasn't easy.  I can't say it was all fun and games. I spent weeks without visiting the BP site, and weeks at a time without listening to a podcast.  Sometimes I was simply overwhelmed by the plethora of information. The hardships aren't always because you aren't feeding yourself, but sometimes because you are feeding yourself too much and you need a break.

Today is November 4, 2017. Seventeen months later. I have analyzed dozens of properties in the BP Tools. I have analyzed probably ten times more on paper or in excel.  I have tried creating my own analyzing spreadsheet just so I could understand how the analyzation works. I highly encourage anyone who is starting out to not depend solely on the BP Tools but to develop your own - just so you can learn how and why. If you like yours - great stick with it. If it doesn't float your boat start making great use of the BP Tools Calculators.  If for one thing alone - the beautiful output they give you for a professional presentation. The one upgrade I might suggest is that the friendly people here at BP allow us to change the script at the bottom for the sake of presentations to potential banks and or private lenders. But that is an aside for another time.

Also in the last 17 months I have studied different strategies from buy and hold to flipping to wholesaling. I have gotten lost in the shiny baubles of confusion.  It happens - buckle up - take responsibility and make a move. I have visited over thirty homes or apartment complexes since I started. I have had realtors walk me through only a handful. I have bid on online auctions for half a dozen homes that I thought had potential. (I haven't won any yet - bummer)

So why tell you all the ridiculous things I have been doing?  To show you it might not happen overnight.  I even have an acquaintance who during my time struggling along, found himself a sugar daddy and went an purchased three flips in two months.  When I asked about meeting the guy or trying to go in on a deal I was told flat out - "Why should I help you or even have you meet my partner - then there would be less for me." Really? can someone be that selfish when they are already struggling to keep up with the overflow they just jumped into?  Yup!

Move forward

I just had to tell myself to move forward.  Probably my biggest problem - I consider myself a visionary.  I am constantly coming up with new ideas, new strategies, new ways to move forward.  So my biggest problem really was me. When all these new things come into the forefront of my mind everything else gets pushed back a little (or a lot.) So It was all about controlling distractions and focusing. By the way, while I write I am listening to a YouTube video of music for focusing. I would like to say that is why I am being so wordy but I can't. It's just who I am.

So move forward. I did that by talking to people. Any time the topic of future success or home buying or how to pay for college or anything that might lead to Real Estate Investment came up - I found a way to mention what I was trying to do.  

I talked to those I knew had nothing in order to encourage them with what I learned.  Hey if I can get someone else to buy into a duplex and have their tenant pay the mortgage - then I may have just helped them get out of debt, or pay for a surgery down the road, etc.  It was a good day.

I talked to those I know who have the means to buy multiple homes a month and not blink an eye. Again - you don't know who might see your zeal and want to help you succeed.

One day I was having lunch with a carpenter I met at my local REIA meeting ( a story for another day. Aren't you lucky) and who do I come across but a coworker from over a decade ago who is dating another carpenter, both of whom have looked into flipping homes unbeknownst to me. Well what do you know she tells me about a local guy who bought a foreclosure about 11 months ago in hopes of flipping it in under three months. 

So that chance conversation leads to my first potential deal. I say potential because at this point we have agreed via handshake and are working out the details to be put on paper by lawyer over the next couple weeks. 

Here is where I call it quits for this post.  If you stuck with me this long you are amazing - or just trying to get to sleep. Either way, if you got one thing from this post, a thought, an encouragement, a good book to read, a new look on why you might run the race to win, then it was worth my time to write it.  For me it was worth it just to start journaling my first deal.

Good night and God Bless!

Chris