Focusing in on Real Estate

During my years searching for the perfect business to jump in to, I had the "pleasure" of purchasing and selling 4 homes.  By the age of 37 I, along with my friendly neighborhood bank,  had been through 7 real estate transactions.  Every time I went through the process, I would think to myself, boy, I could do this.

At the time, I was thinking primarily about the buying/selling process and not real estate investment.  That would come later.

Between what I had learned about franchises during the previous decade, and what I knew about how many small businesses fail, I started putting two and two together and figuring out what I wanted to do ... I wanted a franchise, one that could weather the storm for decades.  ---  The franchise model that I liked the best was DEFINITELY real estate.  Yes, housing cycles just like everything else, but people always have to have a roof over their heads, whether they rent or buy.  The best part, you don't have to buy into a whole franchise to get your feet wet in real estate.  All you have to do is become and agent and "plop" yourself into a company office.  In time, if I wanted to, once I became a broker (after two plus years) I could then take the plunge into being a franchisee.  This would allow for exponentially more income potential.  Again, everyone needs a place to live ... rentals or purchases.

Having recently relocated to NY, the prime franchises for Real Estate are Keller Williams and ReMax in my area.

As 2014 was ending and 2015 began, I had definitely landed on Real Estate but hadn't acted on it.  I had however, started having conversations with a few acquaintances who were real estate agents.  In most cases, as I talked to the agent they would invariably say that not only do they help people buy/sell property, but they have investment property themselves.

Being the information junkie that I am, those words "investment property" is all it took for me to start doing some digging.  The more I dug, the more I knew that I had just found my BIG IDEA.  Purchasing BUY/HOLD, multi-family real estate was going to be the sweet spot for me.  If I got my real estate license along the way, it'd only make the transactions easier.

The hard part, having to wait ...