From somewhere in the desert. Do more.

So, here I am. Sitting on the 31st floor of the Plaza.

Well not "The" Plaza, but it's in the name.

But moving forward, I'm currently overseas doing things and stuff for America because I swallowed that pill 7 years ago. I have been able to see a lot of the world because of it and do some pretty cool stuff too. From jumping out of planes to making things go boom, it's been a blast. That's a pun. Honestly it ends up being a lot of paperwork and dealing with not so palatable people. Sounds a lot like real estate can be. 

Over the past three years I have gone from a really dark place to feeling the most confident and fulfilled I have in my life. I still have struggles for sure both in work and life. That includes real estate too. It all started October 21st of 2016 when I closed on my house in Fletcher Hills, a suburb of San Diego. Lots of old people, no lie. I chose this place because I had been living in a granny flat (aka renovated garage) in La Mesa for the past year and had seen the profitability of the model in San Diego if you bought right. I also knew the school, which is literally in my back yard, would always be a draw for possible tenants in the form of families with kids who want access to the good education. They should just read bigger pockets, Am I Right? 

So I found this place through a realtor my coworker had recommended, who then recommended a broker and so on. Rock stars know rock stars and such. I didn't realize how spoiled I was by having quality people to work with my first go around. I see that now after dealing with some, what was the word, oh yeah: neanderthals. I told my realtor I wanted to find "an investment property," not that I knew what that meant. So she started showing me everything at the top end of my price range. Can you say clueless? 

Another experience I had was living on my buddy's couch for a few weeks after deployment and he had two other roommates who were awesome and on top of that helped pay his mortgage. I wanted to do both the roommates and granny flat deal so when I found a property with both in a good neighborhood where I could endure the ride to work I made an offer to the adorable old lady who owned the home (she had bought it for $12,000, 41 years before) for more money than I had made in my life. I financed the property with a VA loan and moved forward with my plan. Definitely clueless. 

But it worked. After a few weeks of painting and sanding and a hundred other things, I got some roommates and some friends moved in the downstairs granny flat. The first night we slept in the living room and the adventure started. I think in the first two years I went through 11 roommates, which taught me a lot. We had like 8 people in the house at one point, good times. My goal was to help guys out who needed a place to stay and hopefully I did. I think this is one of the most important factors that we don't talk about enough, the human factor of real estate. I'm sure I'll talk about it more in the future but it's just good to share life and make a positive impact.

Shortly after buying my house I started becoming obsessed with the possibilities of real estate and discovered bigger pockets. The next two years work and later a new girlfriend took over most of my free time but I did manage to start a side hustle business renting farmhouse tables for weddings. I also learned everything I could and met with anyone I could to talk about real estate, read a couple books and watched way too much YouTube on the subject. I had arranged for a realtor friend to send me auto updates for 2-4 unit multifamily in San Diego under $1.2m because the plan was to buy with an FHA. Never made that happen but it taught me a lot about analysis and what mattered. I also started playing golf on Sunday mornings with a veteran general contractor and was learning about construction practices and costs along the way. 

Enter the lady friend. She attended a private university in Ohio and her uncle and father had owned a large portion of the college rentals around The Ohio State University until they fell on some hard times. She was doing her own thing, and by that I mean she's kind of a big deal. I had already looked at college multifamily around San Diego, primarily SDSU, so making the jump to college housing in Ohio wasn't a huge shift in my strategy but it did make the numbers way more appealing. So after two years I jumped onto my second deal. 

This time I was buying a triplex that was definitely a fixer upper right by a medical center and hoping to find staff from there to rent. The deal was seller financed with 30% down and the remainder at 0% for a term of 55 months. I paid all closing costs. I had more than a hammer in my  tool belt. I also luckily asked in one of the closing emails, "Do you have any other properties for sale?"

He did and that's what I am closing on now, a group of 4 parcels with 11 units. I have also helped Heather, my girlfriend, buy her first house and she is house hacking as well. She however has moved on a little quicker to number two. We just submitted an offer for her second property today. It happens to also be a triplex. 

We are also running three businesses on top of my job, hired about 10 people in the past 4 months, deployment planning a trip to Bali, buying an Airstream to tour the US and moving to Austin, Texas after I separate from service. All in all we have a lot going on and it is exhilarating. 

So stop making excuses, do more with what you have and if you don't create a better life for yourself at least you'll have a good story to tell.