@Sean Lunny Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
To your first question: It was about in mid-February when I committed to decision to buy a rental property. It's also the same time that I've started launching a small business to sell my artwork. The latter venture is going well; I have my first event booked in May, the second in August, and I have a local word of mouth market because I've given my work as gifts and donated it to local raffles already. So, it's not that I'm waiting for permission, so to speak, it's that I have split my attention. It's been great because it keeps me from getting bored, because I can pick one of two things to work on in my free time.
It's much more that I'm hoping the course can provide me a regular schedule as an accountability check-in. I'm a scientist by profession, but teacher and student at heart. Being able to follow a clear-cut, hand-holding type approach appeals to me. Where I can work out at the gym just fine, some people need to pay the trainer to get their results. I think this is my version, where paying for it will keep me in check, committed, and moving forward.
As to your second point: I have not yet fully exhausted all free resources. Since I only found BP a month ago, I've been picking and choosing episodes that seem most relevant (I want to do a SFH, so I generally skip episodes focused on apartment complexes, for example). I did post on the forums looking for a mentor, and ended up having a phone chat with someone who invests around the area I'm looking at (Huntsville, AL). It was indeed helpful.
As soon as I post this, I'm going to start another discussion forum to gauge interest in starting a group in my area and use a room at a local library. The idea of scheduling one more thing on my monthly calendar gives me a touch of anxiety, as I'm pretty heavily involved in my local community and already am committed about 3 nights / week to local events... but I suppose if that's the price of getting started, right?
Final thoughts: I've read Mike Butler's Landlording on Autopilot and I'm midway through David Greene's Long Distance REI. I went to a ChooseFI meetup (had to drive 2 hours in the snow because DC grinds to a halt when we see snowflakes) and met helpful folks there. But I also struggle to stay in touch with folks I don't see in real life on a regular basis. But it's really the streamlined, flow chart "Do A, then B, then C...." setup of this course that is just captivating the part of my brain that craves simple instructions to follow. It's about doing it more efficiently, even if I would be able to figure it all out by myself and finding mentors.
Thanks for letting me talk through some of my thoughts on the decision process. You mentioned that you've made the mistake of wasting thousands on other people telling you how to get started. Can you share any examples? If stuff looks and sounds spammy I generally stay away (the closest REI to me is about 40 miles away and it reeks of just pushing the organizer's business products), but I'd be grateful for any advice on how to figure out what to stay away from. Thank you so much!
