Hi all!
I feel like I'm late to the game, at 44. I have been crunching the numbers on retirement and current debt, to find that the numbers don't work the way I want them to. I started looking into alternatives last month and came to real estate. I've actually had real estate in the back of my mind for years - I was originally looking for the passive stuff, like investing with groups or through an app, but I didn't have enough trust in those to try them out. I ended up in the r/realestateinvesting reading everything that was posted, which led to so much more information. Someone referred another user to Bigger Pockets, and I followed the link to here. I've read so many of the articles but am still overwhelmed with the content here and trying to work through it but the podcasts have been amazing. Several of them have recommended some books and others recommended just reading up in general, so I went over to the library on Saturday and picked up everything they had on REI - which wasn't much, they had 2 books. One ended up being How to Invest in Real Estate, and I didn't realize it was a Bigger Pockets book until I got him and started reading it. I'm only half way through it so far, and it did tell me to come here and say hi to everyone and start building a network.
My day job is in Civil Engineering. I helped form the company in Round Rock, TX back in November of 2020 and we've been going strong despite the pandemic. We focus on land development of all types in the 0-100 acre range. We've had a ton of REI developer clients which has made me think about doing something similar, although I know that's currently beyond my means (property and development costs are super high, and a 10 acre lot prices out at 1.5M+ just to prep for selling lots, without the homes). I also do a ton of side work either drafting or coding and that's been helpful to pay down the family debts. We're on track to be down to just our current mortgage by June '26, on the current course. Although it is taking a huge toll, and is partly why I'm looking for something that can net me a higher return without the massive time commitment (I'm currently doing 45hrs for day job and 20 for side job, every week).
I've been most interested in owning some duplexes, mostly so I can live in something smaller and possibly put my mother-in-law in another (she currently lives with us in a large SF home), and I've been doing some goal setting work lately. I have a number in mind that I think is attainable, and is definitely a long term plan. With that number in mind, I'm looking at ways to jump in and get started sooner than later. I know the market is up right now, and that's going to make it tough, but who said it would be easy, right?
Thanks for reading though all that word vomit, if you got this far and want to connect, reach out to me. I'm always looking to connect with people that I can learn from and help out in the process. I'm looking forward to what I feel like is going to be a very challenging, yet rewarding, future :)
Adam
