All Forum Posts by: Megan Hirlehey

I am fairly new to BP, and as I'm learning my way around it one thing I noticed that could be improved is having the option to pin the toolbar so it will stay at the top of the page as you scroll. This would be especially useful in the forums that have 50-100+ posts so once you get to the bottom you can just mouse back up to the toolbars at the top and navigate to the next page instead of scrolling back up through everything.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! The biggest hurdle I'm facing right now in deciding whether or not to buy is that we don't plan to stay in Pittsburgh more than another year or two. I love it here but unfortunately there isn't much oppertunity for my partner in his line of work. Does anyone who invests in this area use a property manager? Who would you recommend? In order for me to feel comfortable buying in right now while our future plans are still up in the air, I need to find a property manager that I'd be comfortable turning my units over to if we leave. (I realize selling is always an option too, but I'm going for the buy and hold strategy as much as possible)

Hello Everyone,

I accidentally got into real estate when I was 20 and dropped out of college. Up to that point, I had been saving money for tuition, so when I dropped out I had a nice little pile of cash that wasn't being used for tuition anymore, and if it wasn't for my dad's foresight I probably would've spent it on something dumb like a 6-month-long spring break (The "drunk on the beach" kind, not the "seeing the world and becoming a more-well rounded, cultured individual" kind). Long story short, he convinced me to buy out his business partner on a flip they had bought a few years prior but never did anything with. We gutted it from top to bottom and rebuilt it, 90% by ourselves, so it was a long, frustrating process. A month after we finished the 3ish-yr reno, I decided to move across the country to finish school and rented my house for 2 years, and now since moving back home I have moved into it and am now living for the cost of utilities because I own it free and clear.

I moved back home for my dream job, which I have since been medically disqualified from and now find myself in a soul-sucking 9-10 hr/day office job. I haven't quite figured out what else I want to be when I grow up, but I am reminded every day when I walk into my brown, chilly, window-less office of the things I do not want to be. This has renewed my interest in real-estate. I have no desire to do another flip on the scale of my first house (unless of course I build a portfolio that generates so much passive income that I need something to do to kill time), but I am very interested in exploring other avenues to generate passive income through real estate. Ideally, I want to build a portfolio that generates enough passive income to cover my basic living expenses so I can pursue work that I truly enjoy without having to think too much about my paycheck.