All Forum Posts by: Morgan Blackmore

@Jon Russell

Sweet. Drop in any time. Careful on the slopes. I lose more athletes to ski injuries than anything else.

@Laura Moore

Good luck this week. Do you have a blog where you'll update your progress?

@J. Martin

I figured out the @ thing. Everyone else did it so I tried it myself. What's the point of awards? Except to incentivize us to be active on the forums, that is. :)

@Zach Schwarzmiller

I totally understand disliking the classroom. Becoming a teacher wasn't my first choice either, I sort of fell into it. But being abroad allowed for some life changing experiences and a chance to visit parts of the world I had only dreamed about.

@Kenneth Hynes

Good tip about drilling down on the market. I'm looking to invest in the neighborhood I live in so I count myself relatively familiar with the geography, but not so much the market. And this gives me an excuse to do more exploring and learning. :)

@Laura Moore

Newbie too? Judging by your number of posts you've got a fair bit more experience than I do so far. Where are you at in the process of getting started? Why wholesale?

@Paul Timmins

Read beginner guide. Check.

Listen to podcasts. Check

Read books. Do you recommend those books even though they're not focused on my particular strategy?

Attend REIA meetings. I've started asking around about these. There are none in my county, do you think it's still worthwhile to go even if it's in a totally different market?

Is there a special source for finding HUD homes?

@Jerry W.

Thanks for the tip. Tacoma has now become a key word alert for me.

@Gerald K.

I'm working my way through the podcasts now. Hey do you ever go to local/regional investor meetups?

Sam, welcome to Tacoma. I live in Hilltop. Despite what you may hear from outsiders, it's awesome. Don't be afraid of a reputation that's 25 years out of date.

If you're looking to get plugged in to the community, I can think of no better way than my gym, Tacoma Strength. Shameless plug, I know, but seriously some of the biggest people in the local real estate scene come here and I can think of half a dozen members who are brokers off the top of my head.

I'm just getting started in REI myself. Drop in when you get here and I'll share what I've learned by then.

In July of 2008 my wife and I returned from over three years of living and teaching in Bangkok Thailand. Using the $30k that we had saved during that time I got certified with CrossFit and opened the first affiliate in Tacoma, CrossFit Tacoma. As one member/friend described it, I was able to build a business with little more than a smile and an empty room. I don't know that it was quite that simple, but in essence it's true.

I had no budget apart from what was in my bank account, no experience either as a trainer or business owner, getting started in luxury industry (a relatively obscure one at the time) at the cusp of the Great Recession. If I had paid attention to the odds, I would have never slept.

Now, over five years on, we've got 350+ members, are one of the largest CrossFit gyms in the state, and every day I get to be around some of the greatest people in my community. I've also developed a set of organizational and business skills that give me the confidence to move beyond running a gym.

So it's time to start pursuing what has been another goal of mine: property ownership.

I intend to start with small single and multi-family buy-and-hold while I build equity, experience, confidence, and contacts. After that, I would like to get into apartments and commercial properties. Apartments because the same logic for small multi-family properties applies in even greater force: more sources of income per property. And I think that there are fewer competitors in the apartments market. Commercial properties for the same reasons. As a business owner I've negotiated several commercial leases, and I want to get on the other side of that equation.

I dream of owning property in Mexico too, but that's too far off right now for me to contemplate seriously. :)

And that's that for my introduction. Thanks for taking the time to read through a bit of my story. I hope to meet and develop business relationships here in BP. I welcome any and all feedback.