All Forum Posts by: Galina Derevyanko

@Victoria Winters 

Victoria, 

Thank you for your encouragement! I feel that I joined a society of amazingly friendly and supportive people, now I am wondering why I didn't join it earlier... It is great to be here. Something right is happening here at BP if you all provide newbies like me with this kind of support. The overall experience (in terms of support and friendliness) reminds me posts I read when I browsed my younger son's forums at My Little Pony community (he used to be a Brony when he was at school, if it tells you anything). Friendship is Magic. LOL

@Mark Nolan 

What a great list of resources! and a valuable advice! Certainly appreciated! 

@Dmitriy Fomichenko 

Thank you for explaining the differences between several types of IRSs and letting me know about SD Solo IRA! It certainly sounds attractive! I will explore It!

Galina

Hi everyone, thank you for stepping by! 

If you are a George Lucas movies fun, as I am, you probably remember that hilarious episode from 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom:' Indiana Jones [with shoe on fire] Water! Water! Water! Wa... Oh. [sees a flood coming towards him] WATER! - and everything else after that. 

That's exactly how I feel right now. I declared 2015 the year when I finally realize my long term dream and start REI. I needed knowledge. I craved knowledge. I attended several seminars, have read some books, and then a week ago I found BP. Yes, it does have knowledge. Plenty of it. Great people give great advice on any topics. Free books, articles and podcasts to help the members to succed. Wonderful offers from different businesses. There is an ocean of knowledge! A waterfall of knowledge! I read, and listen, and read again, but it doesn't make a big difference. There is too much to learn. It is still me, trying to navigate my new tiny REI boat in this ocean, full of waterfalls. And sharks, probably, though I didn't meet them yet.

So here is my dilemma: I really really really want to go ahead and do my first deal ( I want to start with fix and flips, and already have an agent, who gives me listings, and a team of contractors, ready to start fixing) but so many different financial options on what to do and what not to do in order to accomplish it! I don't think I have analysis paralysis, since I don't have enough knowledge to anylize anything, but rather the fear of doing something wrong because I don't understand how it works yet. Go for hard money? Get 75% from a conventional company and add additional money borrowing from my IRA? Or convert my etrure IRA into REI one? And I just got this email from BP talking about crowdsourcing! Wow! Two weeks ago I had no idea there are so many different options! Where to start? WATER!!!

@Bill. G.:

"I realize investors like to get into forum chatter and expose what they think they know" - love it! Thank you for clarification! I recently attended a REI seminar, where I was told that it is realistic to get 70% ARV hard money loan, which means you don't need any down money, but now am not sure those are easy to get...

Galina

Larry,

Thank you so much!

Galina

Galina

Jeff, the competition in snow removal is too big, you need to do it quick, before it melts, I may not succeed! :)

Thank you for the warm welcoming! Appreciate it!

Galina

Hi there, hope you all have better weather today than we experience here in Denver! It is snowing and snowing and snowing... So I am thinking on starting investing in real estate somewhere in Caribbean. Any advice? LOL

Seriously, real estate investing was my long term dream, and recently my fiancee (I divorced 5 years ago after 28 years of what I was thinking was a perfect marriage, and had to reinvent myself from scratch - you got the picture!) bought a fixer-upper and by now the ugly property has been transferred into a gem. It's like a magic! I always set goals in the beginning of the year, and I have decided 2015 will be the year to finally start my own REI! I have my family and friends full support, I have a team of experienced contractors, I have a long time employment and a great credit score to obtain financing. All I need is knowledge and network. Two weeks ago, I attended three day Rich Dad Poor Dad seminar on REI - have mixed feelings about the whole experience, but it gave me the basics. For the last two weeks I have read several books, and subscribed to several services to get listings. Yesterday I found a great property I want to buy! This morning I spent several hours researching hard money lenders, and somehow found BiggerPockets - glad I did! Then I spent some time trying to upload my profile picture from my iPad on the site, until I found out that you only can do it using a computer. (Dear web developer! If an ability to add a profile picture via app or mobile version of the website is restricted for a reason, please add a pop-up message when you click on a picture to change it... it will save a lot of frustration for us future real estate investors. But less and less people use computers to navigate Internet, and it is much easier to do with a phone: take a selfie - upload it to your profile. Just a thought :)

That's pretty much it. I am looking forward to meet great people here, and excited to have a trusted forum of peers who can provide each other with support! 

Stay warm, everyone!

Galina