All Forum Posts by: John Burke

Hello Rose,

I’m from New Bern originally, but I moved more central in the state to Wake Forest last June. I’m comfortable investing in either market, but I was thinking Fayetteville in order to get some advantages of investing in a military town. I guess the first thing I should do is reach out to real estate agents and brokers in the Fayetteville area. Since it’s a military town, some of the agents there have probably worked with deployed people before and might have an idea of what I need to do.

I'm a US resident who works out of the country about 10 months out of the year. This has discouraged me from investing for the most part. All I've done up to this point is mostly education. I come home twice a year, but I don't know if I'll have enough time to close on a deal before having to leave for work again. And if the property needs work, chances are I'd have to completely trust a contractor to get the work done. My goal is to purchase buy and hold properties, either SFH or Multifamily. I'm trying to figure out the best way to purchase properties while not in the country so I can build my portfolio while working my day job, because I'd like to work towards either quitting my job or moving to a stateside admin position (which entails a pay cut). I am married, but my wife doesn't support investing in real estate. I think after a few deals she will come around, but that doesn't help me right now. If it matters, I'm a resident of NC and plan on investing in the state.

@Josh R. Late notice, but I'll be there.

@Josh R. I will be there.

I'm from New Bern. Unless you are prepared to deal with possible hurricane damage to your properties, I would stick to flipping in the area. Trent Woods is a good area to look at. There are still some cheaper houses, but people are willing to pay more for nicer ones in that area and multiple school districts to pick from.

@Trey McGovern Sounds like a plan. I come back into town today for the rest of the week and will be in town for a couple of days next week. Let me know what works for you.

@James Wise Thank you.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

Thank you very much. I appreciate the tips and will be sure to use them.

@Bill Hampton

Thank you, and I will be sure to do that.

My name is John Burke. I am from New Bern, which is eastern NC. I am married with one six year-old daughter. I am an Army veteran and currently work as a military contractor. I am currently working full time and attending college full time for an Associate's degree in Entrepreneurship.  I currently own one rental property in El Paso, TX that was originally my primary residence during my time in the Army. I left the military and decided that instead of selling it, I would find a management company and use it as a rental property. I watched my mom flip properties when I was younger, and my aunt is currently a real estate agent that flips when she finds a good deal. I have no money for retirement and  am terrible at saving money. I do however have a good work ethic, so I decided that I was going to capitalize on what I had seen work and begin looking into real estate. I was speaking with a co-worker and he had a similar plan. He introduced me to BiggerPockets about two weeks ago. In the time that I've been on BP, I've learned that I don't know anywhere near as much as I thought I did. I also learned that if I am willing to read these forums and listen to the podcasts, I will gain the tools that I need to succeed. My current goal is to buy one investment property by the end of 2018, whether it be a rental property or a flip. In three years, I want to have a total of five rental properties, including my first which needs to be paid down and refinanced to become lucrative. I look forward to speaking with you all and am glad to be a part of this community.