All Forum Posts by: Alan Taylor

Thanks Brett and Jose -- I'll definitely be going over those resources -- and I'm looking for a group to meet up with in the Northern Virginia area.   I set up a few key words -- I'll probably add to it as I read more in the forums.

I think the next step, honestly, is to practice doing property analysis -- start working through the numbers of which properties will 'work', and which will not. I'm hoping I can find another investor to sit down with and do a few practice runs with properties off of MLS. I'll see who I bump into at the next meet up, where, and whenever that will be.

I'm a cartographer in Northern Virginia, in my early 30s with a wife and two children.  I've been interested in real estate ever since I read Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' shortly after graduating high school -- but I've long been intimidated by the capital required to get started.  

My wife and I have a lofty, but achievable goal of 'retiring' (read: no longer working in an office away from home, full time') before either of us turn 40.  We'd love to spend more time with family, do more volunteer work, and establish a permaculture farm together -- and teach as many people as we can, as much as we know along the way! 

My goal here is to build up a portfolio of rental real estate that will help us create the $45k annual income aiming for in our debt-free (including free and clear home of our own) lifestyle after I stop working full time.

We're currently about a year away from being debt-free -- but we are also still renting.  Neither of us have every purchased a property -- and so a rental unit *might* just be our first purchase! 

I'm also currently studying to get my real estate license here in the state of Virginia -- with a goal to be licensed, and associated with a brokerage here in the Northern Virginia area before the end of this year. 

My hobbies are woodworking, antique tool restoration, gardening, financial literacy education, volunteer work through my church congregation.  

I've been listening to the podcast for several months now - and can't wait to dive in to the give and take of the forums here at Bigger Pockets! 

Cheers! 

Is this meet up still going on -- or does it need a new place to meet?