All Forum Posts by: Jan Wanot

@Troy Fisher, thank you once again for the invite! I am back from Germany on July 12, and will most certainly be at the very next meetup. Looking forward to another tag at that time :)

Best,

Jan

@Matthew B., very impressive transformation!

I feel inspired and constricted at the same time. Inspired because I'm not aware of what is possible, constricted because I know I won't have the capital to create such big improvements in my first 4 plex.

Can you share a bit about what you believe were the keys to success in some of your first ever investment properties?

Thank you in advace, and please keep the pics coming!!

Welcome @Akash!

I'm also new to the trade and excited to learn! Wishing you the best and I hope to see you at a local real estate meet up like @Troy Fisher posted about.

Cheers,
Jan

@Troy Fisher: LMAO@ Newbies and Oldbies. 

Thank you very much for the tag! I am still living in Germany until mid July. Definitely excited for the next one, let me know. 

BTW, what is your experience and success with the king county auction? 

@J. Martin, what a coincidence! I am looking to start with the exact same setup! 

Live in 4plex financed through FHA (or 203K depending on the condition) or conventional if possible. Thing is, the properties in Seattle I've ran very simple numbers on have not shown great cash flow potential, but I'm not giving up.

May I ask what were the most helpful resources in your first year of real estate investing?

Also, what topics/concepts proved to be most important to understand?

Finally, I'm considering getting a real estate agent license simply to get my feet wet(ter), get more exposure to the business, and to potentially represent myself in purchases to save on the fee, or pass some of the commission onto sellers agents that may in turn be more motivated to bring me great properties.

I'm JUST beginning to learn this stuff, so please point out anything that sounds crazy within the aforementioned :)

Thanks a ton for the great information and especially inspiration. My goal is to be where you are in 4 years.

Thank you both for the warm welcome! I have set up keywords, as well as joined a meet up group for when I am back in Seattle.

I do have a question, curious about your opinions. My end goal is to be successful as a real estate investor. Would you recommend getting a brokers or agent license as a stepping stone towards that goal?

At the very least, as a way to gain more exposure into various parts of the business, or to lower my costs in the beginning (via self representation as an agent).

Then again, knowing newbies, I may very well increase my costs through self representation haha :o)

@Steve Vaughan, thank you very much! Looking forward to my journey.

Hi guys,

My name is Jan (pronounced Yawn). I'm a Polish born, Seattle bred guy currently working in Aerospace Finance in Frankfurt, Germany! I'll be flying back home to Seattle in July where I will work in Airline Contracts for at least the next year.

During this time, I will be aggressively saving for my first investment property. I paid off 20k in student loans last year, so my goal is to save another 20k this year for a down payment/closing/light renovation/ect. My salary is 65k gross. 

Currently, I'm doing a ton of reading on the forums, and with e-books. Thanks @Brandon Turner! Next steps are to build my budget/savings plan/business plan. I'm initially attracted to "B or C level" 4 plexes. We'll see if Seattle has something up it's sleeves for me :)

My longer term goals are to hit 1MM+ in assets by 30 (exactly 4 years and 359 days from today), and to be able to eventually help stimulate Polish economy through investment in educational infrastructure. As a precursor to that goal, I am currently loving teaching business basics, and mentoring, and spend a considerable amount of my free time doing so!

Thank you all for your contributions to this site, and I look forward to our positive and successful interactions!

Jan Wanot

Awesome job! It's super inspiring for me to read how far you have come in 4 years.

May I ask how old you were, and what income you had when you started. I turned 25 last week with 65k income, and can't wait to get into my first deal!