Hi, my name is Christopher Dunson, I'm 26 years old, and I became interested in investing in real estate about three years ago when I purchased my first home in Las Vegas for $113,000 financing at $110,000. I got my house at a 3.25% interest rate for a 30 year which to this day blows my mind, because the interest rate that I would have gotten (3.75%) suddenly dipped about an hour before I locked it in. So call me lucky, but that saved me $100 dollars a month more or less. Throughout the next year or so I wanted to purchase other properties, but like most people never took any action, including on a possibly amazing opportunity directly next door to me with a house which had signs on it for a year to a year and a half and was vacant. Come to find it was sold to somebody for $25,000 when my home was worth $160,000-$180,000. That was absolutely insane to me.
Last year, when my home seemed like it could possibly be sold for around $220,000 in good shape, I decided to start making improvements. Sanding eves, Caulking, painting the exterior, replacing hardware throughout the house, some yard improvements etc. At the beginning, I pretty much just said to myself and everyone else, "I'm going to sell my house, pocket 100k, and use it wisely for investment opportunities in real estate and the stock market." "I will research well, no irrational, emotional decisions,"and so on and so forth. So I've been making improvements on the home since around September of last year, it looks great, and it has been a ton of slow progress especially learning many things for the first time and doing them myself. But hey it saved me a lot of money.
In January this year, I finally started reading, and became slightly obsessed with everything I was learning and the world that my eyes have been opened up to. Like many people, I started out with Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Cashflow Quadrant, which were big eye openers in a lot of ways. There are so many options out there so many paths, and really although things get in ones way, one manages their own risk, and if they're smart about it, don't just jump in blind, then that risk can be greatly minimized.
Currently I'm reading a book called Incorporate Yourself to get familiar with the basic business aspects, and different options out there for my property business, or businesses that I will start. Something has really slowed the process of my book reading though, and that is the BiggerPockets podcasts. There is so much variety, and so much great information, some vague, some specific, but all of which is easy to look up and learn more about yourself. After listening to about 10 podcasts, I finally decided to join about a week ago, and am finally introducing myself. I was thinking baout skipping this process, because I think I'm slightly introverted, and on top of that like to think I can do everything myself, although throughout the past year or so I have been telling myself that the most successful people have a team, and although it would be great I can't be a professional at everything. So I have been extending myself and my goals out to some real estate agents, brokers, both commercial and residential, and even business brokers just because it seemed to fall in my lap as a secondary possibility down the road.
My main focus is commercial. I'm thinking big, and nobody I know, or in my family is on par with my thinking. They are all very scared and pretty much don't even think it's possible. Due to the small amount of reading I've done, instead of listening, I now know that there are infinite options out there including some where I may not even really have to be out of pocket if I have the right presentation and talk with the right people. I have spoken with a few banks about a RV storage unit project that will be underway when the person with the plans finds the investors he needs, but it seems like they're just trying to sell me things at this point. This week a couple of Fourplex's caught my eye as a possibility for something that may be an easier first property or two before jumping into 15- 25 unit apartments. It does though make me feel like I may be doubting myself to go big. I decided to rent out my house instead of selling it for now to get a good income coming in. Haha, as so many of you may know it's so hard to get started and make that first decision. It's a pleasure to have joined bigger pockets, and I'm looking forward to getting more involved here and meeting you all.
Thank you, Chris
