All Forum Posts by: Brad Kirkwood

After talking with a few people, I decided to tiake the leap and start my real estate classes to be an agent in PA. I did this because after buying my first house a few years ago, I was fascinated with the process and appreciated the help our agent at the time was able to give.  Now, my wife is presently a stay at home mom to our two children. A very tight budget also helped me this decision a bit easier. 

My goals are to pay off remaining SL debt and begin investing in RE.  Anyone out there with a similar situation and a story to tell?  Im taking the classes online and theyre pretty interesting and insightful. I'm excited about this whole thing and want to know your story or advice for success. Thanks!

So I've decided to make the leap into becoming a real estate agent.  Any suggestions for good audiobooks to supplement my education?  I like to "read" while driving or doing other mundane things.  Thanks for suggestions in advance.

@David Krulac@Tiffany H. @Raymond B. @Dmitriy Fomichenko @Brandon Turner 

I'm about 1 - 2 hours from Franklin, PA.  A better reference would be what Raymond had mentioned about being North of Pittsburgh.  Thanks for the insight on your favorite book.  It has been added to my list.  I've read "The Weekend Millionaire's Secrets to Investing in Real Estate" and "Building Wealth One House at a Time".  I'm presently working through the classic "Think & Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.

I appreciate the insight everyone has provided me over the past 6 months.  My wife and I bought our first house (home) 6 months ago and through working on this project, I've learned quite a few things I can do and enjoy and those things that I would rather let someone else take care of in the future.

At present, I'm taking the advice given from a thread I started a few months back about prioritizing small debts and building an emergency fund (1paid off by the holiday, 1 < $5k to be paid off by March/April).  This said, is there any magic number for an emergency fund or is it the 6 month rule that most of you follow?  I've been snowballing debts in between making updates to our present home.

This website is really a treasure in itself.  Thank you all for your insight and thank you for creating it Brandon!

@Account Closed

I do have an emergency fund though it is 2-3k from where I really want it to be at the present time.  I have always played things very conservatively with my personal finances and debts.  How does beginning investing in real estate change the dynamic of the concept of an emergency fund?  That is, are you always trying to have 4-6 months worth of cash set aside for your own personal residence and primary obligations and then a fixed $$$ amount per investment property?

@Brandon Sturgill

I see myself wanting to flip a few houses at first to generate some initial revenue then move towards a buy and hold/land-lording focus.  A short-term goal (1-5 yrs) would be to acquire 10 - 15 units with a cash flow of $200/ea.  Longer term, I may envision myself acquiring more units and shifting from working "in" my business to working "on" my business.  I am most interested in the Pittsburgh, PA market as it is in my backyard and I know very little about surrounding markets (as I'm still learning about the dynamics of the Pittsburgh Region).

Thank you all for the replies and insight.  I am still very new to things and by all means do not want to rush into something just yet.  I listen to the BP podcasts during my daily commute which has proven an invaluable way to spend otherwise worthless time.  My initial angle once I do enter the investment world would be probably along the lines of what @Scott Nipp was referring to with generating seed capital before pursuing other endeavors.  I believe I'm most interested in a buy and hold investment strategy but more education may change my mind.

Do any of you all have a suggested first book that you felt really helped you out with the field of real estate investing?  I've read the UBG, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and am almost finished with Building Wealth One House at a Time by John Schaub so another book is to be on my radar soon.  Thank you all again.

@Joe Villeneuve

@Cal C.

@Account Closed

@Brandon Sturgill   
 

My wife and I most recently bought our first personal house and I've been educating myself on real estate investing ever since.  When making a few repairs, we had taken out a personal loan for about 5k @ 9.9%.  We clear a bit more than 1k every month after bills and other living expenses from our jobs and by November we should have enough to payoff the balance of the 5k loan completely.

My question is, should we pay this off as it is the highest interest debt we have or use this money to finance the downpayment of an investment property sometime later on?  Closing costs are a bit high since we live in Pennsylvania and I've yet to go beyond just educating myself in the world of real estate (as I've just started a few months back).  Thoughts are appreciated.

FWIW - we would like to have another child sometime next year and daycare is not exactly cheap.

@Wilson Churchill   Thank you very much.  I'll give those suggestions some consideration.

@Wilson Churchill

Thanks for your insight.  With a price that low, what kinds of financing options would you suggest if you were doing the purchasing?  My wife and I just bought our first home and are a bit strapped for cash right now but in about 6 mo we should have around 5k.  Are there any books you could suggest for reading?  Right now I'm reading "Building Wealth One House at a Time" by John Schaub.  I'm fascinated by this type of investing and appreciate any insight.  Thank you.

@Account Closed

FWIW, Serge Shukhat discussed this in some detail on podcast 060.