All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Me and my wife were on our way home when we decided to drop by an open house that we saw. The house had been rehabbed and was being sold for 260k and was built in the 1920s. I introduced myself as somebody who was just looking around, which I was since I wasn't really looking to buy. He was explaining how he rebuilt the house and showed us a couple of pictures before it had been renovated. It was really nice modern appliances, energy efficient, built in surround sound and a cozy fireplace, pretty much everything had been redone. Now, when I asked him how much it cost him to rehab the place, he said 90% of it had been rehabbed and it cost him $150,000. The house was pretty small (I would say about 970-1000sq ft?), had two floors. I'm curious, does it really cost that much to rehab a small house or was I being fed with deceit? If he was twisting the price, why would he?

The house looked like it could've been bought for 40,000-50,000. $90,000 tops (Which would be a horrible price for an old and worn out house in my opinion).

My wife and I are trying to figure out what our first property should be and I would like to hear what everybody started with. We were considering a townhouse since most of them are well below 100k but from time to time I've been looking at people's post here at bigger pockets and it seems like everybody's talking about MFH's. What would be the ideal property for people whose capital are well below 150k?

I know this is a dead topic and I'm not trying to bring it back up again. Well maybe a little, haha. But I had this amazing advice from my supervisor the other day who happened to be into real estate too (I didn't really know that until that day). He was doing my Career Development Board when we started talking about what my intentions were regarding my professional life. I told him that I would stay in IF I make First Class before my 2nd term is over but other than that I would be doing sidelines investing on Real Estate. And then he said "If you're going to say that you might as well stay. You can only do one of two things, set yourself up to stay in or set yourself up to get out. If you try to do both, you're going to be hurting on one of them and in the end you might end up on the side you're not doing well on."

That's a piece of advice I will never forget. I re-enlisted for another four years in August and I will be spending all of that time on land. During those four years, I will focus on building my portfolio and after I get out, I'll invest full time.

To Mike and everybody who answered my question, I'm very thankful for all the honest opinions you have shared. After weeks of thinking about it, I think I've finally made up my mind to stay in at least 4 more years to test the waters. I was planning on being a real estate agent on the side while doing shore duty that way I can learn more about real estate before buying my first property. But now, I figured I might start with school first and if I have enough time, I'll hop right onto real estate. The reason I prioritized school before RE was because of one thing. Finances.

Right now, I have two car loans that total $21,0000, about $8,000 worth of revolving credit and my savings are 4 digits. I thought of RE as an escape route and I got excited, and to be honest I still think it is but I also think I'm being a little too hasty. I'm working on paying off the credit cards first since they have a higher APR compared to the two car loans.

To summarize everything, I just wanted to thank everybody for helping me come to a decision. I feel comfortable with it and I think it's the right thing to do.

Thanks for the advice Matt. Family's definitely something to think about.

Should I retire and start my investment, or should I get out and start investing early? I'm 24 years old, married, and I've been in for 3 years and currently an E-4 in the Navy. Just like every other service member out there, I'm hooked to the fact that we can retire in 20 years. I would be 41 years old when I retire if I decide to do so or if the Navy chooses to keep me.

To be more specific, I would like to know what investors who used to be in the military think about the decisions they made while making the transition from military to investor. To investors who got out and went full time early, what are the pros and cons for you? For retirees who plan to become full time investors but have just started investing, are you satisfied about your decision? what are your pros and cons? If you think I would have more advantage to invest while serving, I would like to know why and how. My intention is to become a full time investor in the future and any little information that you would like to share would be very helpful. And I also want you all to know that I really appreciate the wisdom that bigger pockets had taught me in the short time that I've been a member here. Thanks.

Thank you for your support Anna. Yeah, I'm really excited to start investing here. I've already seen numerous neighborhoods that I wouldn't mind living there myself.

I talked to my Senior Chief today and I was able to secure orders for Virginia so I'll be staying here for a long time. I'm really excited to start investing here, it's a military town and the climate's pretty appealing, all in all I think it's a really good move for me. And you are both right, moving to Hawaii or Cali would have set me back by a mile. Thanks for helping me make the right decision Glenn and Tanya.

I'm currently up for military orders and I'm about to apply for Norfolk, Hawaii, and Lemoore California so I'm trying to weigh my odds if I do get picked for one of them. My ship's currently in Virginia so I'm going to see if I can stay here for shore duty but there's still a good chance I could get stationed anywhere. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Aren

Thanks for the support guys. I really appreciate it specially for someone like me who's just starting out. I'm really serious about investing in real estate and would like to go full time once I'm done with my contract in the military. I can definitely use the conventional wisdom found here so you'll be seeing more of me. I'm also thinking about getting a mentor but that's if time will allow me being on an unstable schedule due to work.