All Forum Posts by: Brady Wise

Hello and welcome to BP!  You will have to excuse me but I am 60 years old and from Dallas Texas and I am quite opinionated about real estate investing.  There is so much to say and I will try to get started and finished in a fairly short time but feel free to ask me anything.through BP.  I found BP about 18 months ago and I was very turned on by them and have been learning 8 to 10 hours a day (7 days a week) while I medically recover.  Other than this website I use YouTube just about every day.  I also read a couple of books per week.  When I was 54 years old I had a brain anuerism and a stroke.  I thought originally thought it would only take me 6 months to heal but now it's a little over 6 years of recovery.  I still cannot walk but I am slowly getting better and I hope to be able to walk again in a few months and go back to work and I think I have been studying how to have a flexible work schedule.

Learning is something you need to do for the rest of your life and try to get into that as young as you can.  We were not taught to be financially fit by our grade schools.  In our life we have been taught to be an employee and depends of the government for retirement but we do not get what we worked for.  We were taught how to spend money and not know the difference of what is a true asset and a liability.  I know this might very harsh but it is the truth.  Your college time can be helpful if there are corses available on financial freedom.  Most people do not even know how to read a financial statement which is very important.

I am lucky that I have been married for over 32 years and my wife has been saving money for over 25 years and affords to put our daughter through college without going into debt.  My daughter is in her 3rd year at The University of Arkansas.  I made sure my wife graduated after I did from college.  She is a computer programmer and she has a good boss who helped her out a lot and only expects her to go into the office a 1/2 day and still pays her full time.  We own our own house in Coppell Texas.  We have owned it since 1984.  Luckily it has more than doubled its value.  I started working in the construction business since I was 17 including those college years.

Now I graduated from college with honors in 1980 and got a real estate broker license since then and never have done that full time.  Instead I stayed in the construction business.   Since I have graduated from college I have mostly been a manager in that business as well as a owner.  Because of my position I was able to be around my daughter a lot as she grew up.  To answer one of your questions about going to college you need to finish what you started.  Just take as many math and business financing courses as you can.  It is great to hear that you still can live at home and not have any bills.

Like most business real estate has cycles.  Take advantage of the current seller's market and prepare to be in it someday. belieive it or not, being successful in real estate takes education and bravery/confidence and not letting anybody do it for you.  You need to keep control at all times.  Because there is money involved you really can not trust anybody and do not take any chances with somebody you don't know.  Just because they might be in the stock market does not make them an investor.  You cannot really depend on anybody that has a salary that depends on your decision is just looking out for themselves, not you.

I know this crap is seemingly dangerous but it is just speaking the truth.  There are a lot of people out there that will say just about anything to make money and want the easy way out by cheating you out of money.  They are all over the Internet trying to sell you emotionally and not based on telling the whole truth about something.  So be aware of that and only trust a few people you know and are experienced on what they are doing and know what you are doing.  Hang out with people that have been successful at what you want to do.  REInvestor clubs and events that are not based on sales can be a good place to network with other people with like-minds.  I think that eventhough I graduated from college with a business degree that emphasized in Real Estate it still helped my employment.  The learning process did and eventhough my Dad had been In that business for a few years I ended up being in the construction business.

Eventhough my mother and father got a divorce when I was 10 my father stayed in my life and was good for us. My father has always been self employed so I saw the good and bad about it. He was mainly buying and selling commercial property and he has taught me a little bit. He is very personable and has always had a natural talking ability that I thought I was going to get but never did. I am sorry that this is so lengthy but I felt it was necessary. There are a few things you should do besides selecting a nich and the market area. One of those things is forming some type of corporation or a LLC. You might need to hire an attorney and/or an attorney and/or a CPA to advise you on what you should do. That will help you not jeopardize your personal assets. Another thing you can do is getting your financing. A loan letter from that might help you get some deals since the owner is then comfortable that you can close. Another thing you might want to do is to find an office location that is convenient for you and has few distractions. Your office can be located in your place if you can close it off and won't distract you on personal things to do.

Just remember when you are starting to invest to keep it simple and do what is average to that neighberhood.  You can do a couple of niches at the same time.  Either long term vs short term or less financing is involved.  I beleive that rental units is one of the best ways to go.  I do not know it but do you know Robert Kiyosaki the book writer/philamtropy person that has some things to say that caught my attention.  One of his books is RichDadPoorDad and has some interesting things to say.  Another guy, Lance Edwards can tell you in his book that buying small apartment complexes does not require any experience and can be a part time job especially if you are able to let other people manage it.  Do not try to do everything yourself.  Having a Team of local and experienced professionals can help you get things done.  Try to maintain your focus on income productive things.  Track everything you do and view them regularly.  That could help you reduce expenses or how you can produce more income.

Good luck to you!

@Brady Wise  Just my two cents, but if you are really interested in real estate, I would get a degree in Finance or Real estate or Accounting or even possibly engineer.

I cant tell you how often knowing the mechanics of electrical circuits or even statics from my engineering degree, or how understanding Present value, or cost of capital etc from my MBA has helped me to quickly understand what mortgage brokers, or contractors or real estate agents have helped me when trying to understand a necessary repair, or obscure part of getting a deal done.

Yeah, it might not be explicitly necessary, but having a degree will help you.  

In addition, I really do believe one of the best ways to get into the real estate game is to have W2 income that allows you the ability to get started, to obtain financing etc on your first deals.

Best of luck to you!!!

@Brady Wise --Welcome to BP. I'm a college man, so I'm jaded. But to me an educated man in a wiser man. And I think there are several major's that would be a great asset to your plans; economics, small businesses management, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship--a great major if your college offers it (just check out how many posts on BP are inquiring as to where to find financial backing). Sure, you could learn most of this through the school of hard knocks, but why takes the knocks when you can just learn it?

I like the idea of making your first million in 21 years--do it!

Welcome again,

Ronn