Hello (Bigger Pockets)World

Hi everyone!

I decided it might be a good idea to make a blog that outlines everything I've learned as a real estate investor. I'm looking at this as a sort of personal investing journal that I'll be able to look back on. I feel like I'm kind of in a unique situation (which I'll be explaining in later posts), so I'm hoping that there are other people out there who are in the same boat and we can all help each other.

My initial investment interest was sparked by a very wealth man I knew while I was in college. I believe he was a real estate investor, but I know he was also involved in many other startups and worked as an angel investor to some smaller local companies. We would talk often about financial planning and my future (he was very much a mentor to me), and in one of our talks, I remember very clearly having the following though:

The lifestyle I eventually want to live will NOT be made possible by any 9-5 day job I could ever get.

I wanted to be rich, and I had realized that I wasn't going to get there just by working a job for some other company. As I talking to him more and more about the way he gained his wealth, I understood that if I was going to achieve the level of wealth I desired, I needed to do much more than just graduate and get a job.

It was not too long after having that realization that I read my first book about money. It was The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey, and I ate it up like a starved lion. The world of self-help, business, investing, money management, and business books was suddenly uncovered. I read or listened to everything I could get my hands on and in the last year or so have read more than 40 books to learn how to be rich.

Maybe the 4th or 5th book I read was The ABCs of Real Estate Investing, by Ken McElkroy. It was the firs time I had ever considered investing in real estate or ever becoming a landlord, but I knew I liked what I read. I had a very good feeling about getting into buy-and-hold real estate and I really was excited about it.

Over the next few months , I read tons of other books about the stock market, start-ups, and other forms of investing. I had forgotten about real estate entirely and was craving the world of entrepreneurship and business management. It was in this stage that I discovered some more literature about investing in real estate. Again, I felt very good about it. I knew that it was a solid path to building wealth.

I started listening to the Rental Income Podcast, which I just found from a simple search, and also the Rental Rookie Podcast. Once I had listened to all those shows, I went on the search again and discovered the BP Podcast. After the endless plugs from Brandon and Josh, I finally decided to check it out. I instantly liked what I say, and created an account right there on the spot.

That was about a week ago, and now I am diving head-first into the subject. I listen to about three podcasts a day, am reading the Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and looking every day for properties to analyse for practice. I don't know if real estate will be my only passion for serious investing, but it will definitely be my first.

I'll continue to write often and get into more details about my situation, my life goals, and what I'm learning. In the mean time, good luck to everyone!

-David