All Forum Posts by: Jack G.

I'm in a similar boat and I'm taking a small business approach. I'm still working my full time job, but I'm kicking off a real estate clean up business on the side. My thought process is that in doing so, I open up more learning and networking opportunities while also building capital to invest in a deal. I may even find a few deals before they reach the market. Long story short, I agree with previous posters and think any service that can be provided to property owners is an opportunity to network and learn.

The most disconcerting statement is the following (I have removed the company name)

<blockquote>Non-Compete 

During this agreement Recipient shall not represent, provide services for or engage in any other way any other business of a similar nature to the business of [company] (Acquisition of Real Estate with intent to sell for a profit) without the written consent of [company]. It is understood that Recipient will be representing [company] exclusively in all acquisitions and wholesale real estate transactions. 

Recipient warrants and guarantees that during this agreement and for the twelve month period following the termination of this agreement shall not directly or indirectly engage in any similar business (Acquisition of Real Estate with intent to sell for a profit) with [company] current clients or [company] former clients. Nor shall recipient solicit any client of [company] for the benefit of a third party that is engaged in a similar business to that of [company] or hire any employees or sales staff or former employees or sales staff of [company]</blockquote>

To me this sounds like it covers all real estate transactions anywhere. I'm drafting an e-mail to see if he's willing to narrow the scope of this NCA. He has also stated there is a deal he wants to move on so he's asking me to return the agreement with haste.

Hello All!

I've browsed several forum posts regarding non-compete agreements and it seems the majority of the threads are geared toward an investor creating a non-compete for taking on an assistant. My situation is the reverse. I've discussed the situation with an attorney, but because of his lack of familiarity with wholesaling, I'm concerned about the advice I'm receiving.

I called a phone number from an "I Buy Houses!" ad to ask for advice on how to get started investing in my area. The number went to an answering service and a couple hours later I received a phone call from the gentleman who owns the company. I spoke with him for about 20 minutes and he gave me some decent input. He told me he was a contractor and his wife was an investor, then he got into investing full time. He stated his son is a student at our local college so he's looking at real estate in the area (he's located in SC). I said I'd be willing to assist if he needs boots on the ground. He said he'd think about it and we finished out the conversation.

A few days later, he calls me back and explains more about his business. He's flips and wholesaling is his primary business. He got his start years ago by paying a mentor $35k and made it back in the first few deals he and his wife worked on. He has handled wholesale deals in Florida, GA, SC and VA. He said he has two other gentleman in a similar capacity he would like me to work with him, which is basically a gofor. He evaluates deals in my area and when he spots one, he sends me out to evaluate using his "trade methods", in exchange he is offering me a profit share, knowledge, and and has asked me to sign a 2-year non-compete.

I'm not sure what I'm exposing myself to by signing this non-compete. For starters, the company name in the non-compete doesn't match the name in his e-mail signature. The agreement seems relatively broad in stating it covers wholesaling and flips using his company's methods and clients, but does not define what those are. For all I know, he could be using a method that is well-known here on BP and try to sue me claiming I'm using his method.

My discussions with the gentleman seem reasonable, but I just want to be cautious about how much I'm exposing myself, my wife, and our assets. I appreciate any input that would be helpful in making this decision!

If this discussion is better suited for another category please let me know!

In my first forum post I introduced myself and discussed what I was thinking was a conundrum at the time, but I'm beginning to reconsider. I had mentioned that I have a multitude of interests, a desire for financial security, and an issue with lack of direction. The combination of those three has caused me some pretty severe anxiety over the last few months. 

Just the other day I discovered I wasn't alone and in our society of labels I managed to find one that fits me. Two actually. I spotted a TED talk Emilie Wapnick about what to do when there is no one thing that you're passionate about. The term she uses, which I believe is one she came up with, is "multipotentalite", which is a fancy way of saying "a generalist". She also started a website called Puttylike devoted to the topic.

Doing a little more research, I learned this is far from a new concept. Barbara Sher coined the term "scanner" and dedicated her career to helping people with wide varieties of interests find direction. Further back still, I found that during certain ages in there have been times and cultures where people with general bodies of knowledge were favored over people with more specific, single talents.

What encouraged me to open this discussion is just thinking about what keeps bringing me back to real estate as a career path, and its not just about the potential to make money or financial security. I'm arriving at the conclusion that most of the variety of interests I have fall under the umbrella of real estate services. Sales, business, information technology, mechanics, simple carpentry, electrical, plumbing, REI involves any of all of these things one way or another. Its broad enough to allow you to throttle your involvement and choose what you do ("renovate the bathroom myself, or hire a contractor?").

My purpose for this post, is to see how many others in this community have arrived here because they, like me, found it difficult to settle into a single-track career. I'm hoping this post may start a discussion among community members who are where I am and working toward being the square peg who isn't trying to fit in a round hole, and members who realized they need variety in their career and have found it.

Simply put, how many of you were drawn to real estate investment because you couldn't find that one thing to do with your life? How many of you are "multipotentalites" or "scanners"? Has REI fulfilled your needs for variety in what you do for a living?

@Shawn Ginder I will certainly be in contact, I'm here to learn!

@Thomas S. You are absolutely right, and this post is intended to be my first step toward achieving focus. A lot of what I'm trying to overcome is anxiety about making the wrong choice or focusing on the wrong objective. If I take my Grandfather's advice and "stick with a good company" much like the job I already have, I can focus on trying to rub elbows with the right people and work my way up the ladder, but that doesn't always pan out and it leaves a lot up to fate. I've got co-workers that have been trying that route for the last 25 years and they make about as much as I do. What I'm having trouble with is what to focus on. Focus on the job I've got and try to make connections and get ahead? See if I can get raises and put them into smart investments? Or do I just do what I need to do to keep the job and focus more of my effort into REI and educating myself on real estate, including taking advantage of the business classes I have access to here?

I'm definitely going to read the post you suggested. How did you make the decision on what to focus on in your career?

As you probably already know, there are pros and cons to both. One piece that might make a difference is if you're paying the utilities (or utils included with rent). Gas is generally cheaper month-to-month than electric (at least in my area) but the initial cost is usually higher (also in my area). Personally I would have less peace of mind knowing there's one more point of failure for a potential gas leak.

I'd go electric over gas in a rental unit.

Hello All!

My name is Jack, I'm from Harrisonburg Virginia. I'm currently 27 years old and enjoy long walks on the beach.

I also have somewhat of a lame sense of humor :-p

If you look at my profile you'll probably notice that I've been a member for almost a year, so I suppose I'm technically not "new" per se, but I am new to the forums and I'm making an effort to become a more active member. I thought this would be a good start! Below you'll find an information dump about my life and what I'm doing here. I'll add headers so you can skip over the boring parts if you so choose.

A little about me

Like I mentioned earlier, my name is Jack and I'm 27. Well, 28 in November if you want to get technical. I was born in Virginia, raised in Pennsylvania, and moved back in VA when I graduated high school. I put myself through a Bachelor's in Computer Science at James Madison University and still have the $60k in student debt to prove it! Despite a degree in CS, and being a very technical person in general, I've always enjoyed business and finance. I started in JMU's business school, but at the time I wasn't able to make the required GPA. I could go on with excuses about working full-time and going to school full time, but the bottom line is I didn't make the cut so I switched majors. A few months before I graduated a landed a $75k job with a tech firm in Culpeper. I was laid off 3 days after my graduation and went back to driving a transit bus and working for the computing support department with the university, the two jobs that got me through my degree. A year later I was moved into a full-time position managing a 100-seat computer-based testing center on campus. The position is 50% tech, 50% administrative and pays half as much as the tech firm did, but it has good benefits and my commute is a 10 minute walk. On that note, a year after getting this job I got married and we bought a small house 100 yards from the edge of campus, which we intend on renting some day. As much as I'm wrestling with this decision, I'm strongly considering staying with this job for the next 6 years. In 6 years $40k of my student loans will be relieved with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (since the university is considered public sector) and during that time I can take advantage of a university-paid master's program (once I figure out which one will best suit my goals). I can also leverage my steady income for investment purposes. However, my biggest fear with staying is stagnation (my "IT" job doesn't deal much with IT) and the opportunity cost.

My Interests

My interests are varied, really varied. People tend to joke about me being a "Jack" of all trades. While humorous, it's been problematic for me because it's made is extremely difficult to figure out what to do with my life. Many of my interests spawned from finding ways to save money. I learned to program because IT jobs were plentiful (at the time). I had an old Grand Marquis that I rebuilt the suspension, brake system, and replaced the entire transmission in the parking lot outside my apartment. I learned to cook because the foods I liked are expensive in restaurants. Next week I'm taking a commercial driving class to get my Class A license (trucker's license). Why? Two reasons, 1. I love trucks 2. even with a pickup truck and a goose neck trailer you can cross in to Class A territory, and I found a opportunity to get the training cheap and cover that base so I'm taking it. Plus, its a good fall-back plan if I ever lose this job. DIY projects? This year I tore our bathroom back to the studs, rebuilt it, re-plumbed the house and pulled out almost all the old armored cable in the house and replaced it with 12awg, built a fence, and tore up the busted concrete driveway, replacing it with a bigger gravel driveway. Everything I mentioned above are things I enjoy doing but there is no one thing in that list that I would enjoy doing day in and day out every day for the rest of my career. Oh, and there are two more things I enjoy: writing (which you could probably tell) and networking with people (which is, in part, why I'm here).

My Goals

I'm not looking to get rich quick, I'm not looking to be the next Warren Buffett. My goal is simple: I want options. The option to buy a equipment that can yield a return, the option to buy rental property, the option for either myself or my wife to stay home with the kids, or even just the option to leave an abusive, negative work environment and not fear bill collectors. I want to be able to carve my own path and not be worried about people telling me "if you're not in your career by 35 you'll be doomed to low-paying jobs." I've seen my parents financially crippled under houses and cars they bought and lost because of lay-offs and poor planning. Right now my father is 5 years from retirement and half a million dollars in debt. On the flip side, I've married into a family who built wealth through real-estate for the past two generations. Further, my grandfather (my father's father) has been retired, living off his investments, since 1982. These are my influnces for wanting to learn how to invest.

Why I'm here

After obsessing over the subject for the past two years I've concluded that flexibility is gained through having multiple streams of income, but that caused me to hit my current roadblock: time. You spend two-thirds of your life awake and most people spend half of that in a 9-5 (in my case 8-5) job. That gives  you the other half for another job, recreation, time with your family, and/or maybe some other ventures. So the solution to the time-crisis is to set up sources of residual income. Real-estate, equipment rentals, royalties, stocks. The trouble I'm having is all of those things either require a lot of startup capitol, or a talent/expertise that can be packaged and sold. Neither of which I have, but I know I'm not alone. There are plenty of people out there, many of which are right here on Bigger Pockets, who have been in my position in life and done great things, the majority of them got there with Real Estate. I'm here to shake hands with the greats, to learn from the best, and hopefully carve out my own little piece of the mountain. 

I hope you enjoyed my mini-novel and I am open to questions, suggestions and comments! I have plenty more to discuss but I figured I made this first post long enough.

TL;DR: Hi, I'm Jack, I'm interested in lots of stuff, I want to invest in real estate, please share your wisdom. ^_^