Good afternoon, everyone!
My name is Curtis and I am extremely excited to start my real estate investing career! I'm 30 years old and I'm from the Chicago south suburbs. For the last 10 years, I have worked as an IBEW 134 electrician. Although the pay, benefits and pensions are all amazing, I do not want to be in the field until I'm 65 and miserable. My father worked hard all his life to give me and my siblings everything we have ever wanted and needed but at the cost of constant joint pain and other related issues. I have experienced some of this firsthand but thankfully nothing serious so far. Leaving work with multiple small cuts and bruises every day is the norm. Accidentally kneeling down on a screw is a weekly occurrence. Recently, while trimming out an electrical device, a wire popped out and hit me directly in my eye (my fault for not wearing the proper PPE). From working in tight spaces that I can barely get into to working off of 16' ladders and scissor lifts outside in the middle of winter, these last 10 years have opened my eyes and made me realize that there is so much more to life than what I'm currently living.
I had an epiphany late in 2019. I needed to get out of the vicious cycle I was in of not liking my job, living paycheck to paycheck even though I was making six figures and just not enjoying my life as much as I should. I NEEDED something. I turned to the internet to search for possible avenues of success. That lead me to my first stopping point, fixing my spending habits. While searching for self help books, one kept popping up at the top; Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover". This was the first of many financial books that I have read since then but it is special in my heart because it changed the way I looked at money. After reading "The Total Money Makeover" and really diving into my finances, in less than 2 years, I paid off my car loan and my credit cards and became 100% debt free (with the exception of my mortgage, which I consider "good" debt) and increased my credit score to well above 800. I have since stayed out of debt and plan on staying debt free for the rest of my life.
My next stopping point was the stock market. We've all heard stories of the guy who decided to sink all his savings into an up and coming stock and the next day he's a millionaire. Who doesn't want to get rich quick? Is there anything in life more enticing than that? I bought and ready many investing books and after gaining significant knowledge, I felt comfortable putting money in the market. I would sit for hours analyzing companies before investing in them, but it was very tedious work and I did not enjoy it at all. Instead of continuing to do that, I started automatic investing through my brokerage into mutual funds and got the idea out of my head that I can get rich quick through the market.
My third avenue to financial freedom was by starting my own business. My fiance and I started a small online retail business and so far it's doing decently well but I quickly realized it was not the route to financial freedom but more of a hobby/ nice supplemental income generator.
All of those have lead me to where I am today. After reading many real estate investing books, including many from the Bigger Pockets publishing and what seems like the golden book, "Rich Dad Poor Dad", I have decided real estate is the route I want to take to gain my financial freedom. I bought the pro membership to utilize all the amazing tools and resources to help me along on my journey and have been talking about real estate so much that my fiance is 100% on board with me and is just as excited as I am about this journey!
Back in 2017, I bought my first property. While I didn't consider it an investment at the time, I do now. I bought a 2 bedroom, 2 bath 1200 Sq Ft. condo in the Chicago south suburbs. After appreciation and all the updates I have done, the condo value has increased by 45%. I just closed on a cash out refinance to take advantage of the low interest rates, going from a 4.75% interest rate down to 2.99% and although I technically have a larger loan, I'm paying less monthly for the mortgage! I will be using the cash I took out of my equity to purchase my second property, which I have decided will be a small multifamily. I plan on 'house hacking' the property and rent out my current residence.
With all the resources available on this website and the wealth of knowledge in books, videos, seminars and meet ups, I genuinely believe I will achieve my goals and I will be able to do what I want, when I want, where I want and with whomever I want and enjoy all the wonders life has to offer!
Thank you for letting me share a small snapshot of my life so far and I so very much look forward to this journey with all of you!
