Getting Started in Real Estate

Hello BP World! My name is James Bowerman and I’m a lifelong resident of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. I'm new to the world of REI and this is my story to date.

First, a little back story; My professional career began as a graphic designer in 2004 and I'm now the creative director for a digital marketing company in Baltimore. I also like to think of myself as an entrepreneur, as I've started several "successful" companies throughout the last decade.

Currently, I'm the sole owner of Bowerman Ventures, LLC. I formed this entity in June of 2015 with the intent to begin investing in real estate. This idea was formed after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad in January of this year. I later went on to read several other books by the author and eventually signed up for a real estate investment coaching program with Robert Kiyosaki in May of this year.

After setting up my entity, I acquired funding through seed capital. This funding was done through credit card stacking, which hurt my credit score, so my traditional financing options are limited. My plan is to use the cash and credit for rehab and and hard money for acquisition. This relates to my first goal, as I hope to generate additional liquid capital that can replace the credit cards. Note: These cards were acquired using a company and all have at least a 1 year introductory 0% interest rate.

Since May of this year, I've been working to build my real estate team. As an introverted person, I've found this to be one of the most difficult parts. Cold calling and talking with complete strangers at networking events is not high on my list of favorite things to do. Through my personal relationships, business acquaintances, and Bigger Pockets, I've been able to find some great people to work with. I find that attending these networking events is greatly about accountability, and by taking me out of my comfort zone it helps improve my social deficiencies as well. 

Over the past several months I've looked at probably a hundred properties or more (online). These have been listed on the MLS, Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, Hubzu, Auction, HUD, HomePath, HomeSearch, etc. I've physically visited dozens of properties, analyzed them and created property reports. Finally, in October I made an offer on a HUD property which was accepted. I ended up walking away from the deal, but it was a great learning experience. 

As of this week I have had an offer accepted and contract ratified on another HUD property, which I'm confident about seeing through to completion. I look forward to sharing my progress with the community and hope to become a valuable contributor to BP. It has been a great resource since I started six months ago...I just wish I discovered it sooner!