Hello everyone I am so excited to be making my first post on here.
Before I jump into my current situation (I'll list it at the bottom in as much detail I can) I will tell a little bit about myself.
I am 26 years old from Baltimore Maryland, I currently reside in Dundalk. I work a pretty decent job I just started I roughly make 50k a year.
No kids not wife.
My bills are pretty non existent at this point in time.
I consider myself an aggressive investor that's not afraid of risk.
I have been working 7 days a week for the past 2 months to work myself out of debt.
I have roughly 5k in debt from capital one credit card, hospital bills, ect.
That is not including the 125k on the first house I just foreclosed, however it's not showing on my credit report.
I always had a vision/dream of financial freedom just never knew how to acheive it.
I started out reading the Cashflow quadrant and that book was able to put everything I have ever felt in my soul into words. A coworker gave me the book and after reading it the next book I bought randomly was the book that led me to Bigger Pockets which was the Rental Property income book by Brandon Turner.
From there I've been joining groups on Facebook reading posts on here, listening to the BiggerPockets podcast while at work,just trying to obtain all the knowledge I can.
I'm not sure about a lot however. So I guess I'll list my foreclosure story and then my questions on what I should do next.
About 3 years I closed on my first house. I was in a rush and paid the price after a year of looking I had to chose a house as my family was moving and was pushing me to get one. I found one that after I did the inspection they revealed that the roof was not new (the listing said it was a new roof that was a lie) and also that the structure beam under the house was severely molded and collapsing.
I had an FHA through NFM lending and I told my agent I can overlook everything except the roof and the beam and that the seller needed to fix it. She added an addendum and they claimed to have fix it however a second inspection revealed they didn't. Being young and dumb and also being rushed from where I was living, and I signed anyway.
I made the mistake of moving in friends who never paid their share of rent either so that was another stupid decision. After a year of making the payments I tried transitioning to a better paying job. Once I was over the road (CDL Trucking) the friends decided to stop paying rent I fell behind and had to leave the job for a family emergency and lost the job and all my bills consumed me. Car was repoed, house was foreclosed and off to auction and I was jobless.
I am just now picking up the pieces.
I had coworkers tell me to talk to homeowners insurance about the problems before the foreclosure but homeowners insurance told me I needed to know who did the repairs on the roof from my agent and never was able to get that. So then my co workers told me to get a real estate attorney an make a case that I've been living in a house with those problems and mold for years now. I tried but nobody wanted to take the case or even call me back. Being young an discouraged I just was frustrated and gave up. Which led me to reading these books and start learning as much as I can about the real estate realm.
So my questions would be , I am currently not paying any bills an they have not sent me anything to get out of the house. I am currently saving 99% of all my paychecks eating lunch meat sandwiches for breakfast lunch and dinner, cutting down absolutely as much spending as possible.
Should I file bankruptcy? I have had 50% of people that say I should right now the other half say I should wait until everything goes through to see what happens .
My original goal was to stacks much money as possible and wait until I got a chunk of change maybe 10-20k then go to a friend of mine who is a real estate agent and try to do a flip with him and see if he will mentor me. I figure after a couple of flips and saving the money from my job that eventually I can do my own flip and or buy and hold rental then maybe start my own LLC for real estate later down the road.
Does this seems realistic and doable?
What would be any advice you would give me?
Also for people in Maryland where are some events or places I can go to meet other real estate agents, investors , mentors and other people that actually live this life?
I am having trouble finding out where to go to surround myself with people not further along that have done stuff, I feel as it I have been reading too much and want to make a jump regardless of the risk. Restless feelings.
Is it worth saving money or should I file bankruptcy now and get it over with? I personally do not want to do it but I also want toget the ball rolling on a strong foundation this time. I already have the foreclosure on my record if I add bankruptcy that may effect my goals in the future to create a business in real estate.
Also should I get my real estate license to add as a tool to my arsenal belt ? If yes what are the requirements to keep it and what obligations do I have once I have it? Like I don't have to get a real estate job I can keep my currently just have that license kind of like how I got a CDL just another tool to utilize right?
Sorry for the massive-inexperienced-cluster-twilight-graphic-novel-Harry-Potter-book of a post lol.
Thank you for reading this and anyone who has any suggestions of advice I look forward to reading the replies.
