Originally posted by @Jason Turgeon:
I agree with the others here. You're at a good age for taking risks. You have a solid background on the flipping side. You're not (quite) ready to quit.
Before you quit, I'd urge you to do as others have said and do your first flip for yourself as a househack. Find someplace you know you can rehab, use your W2 job to qualify for a rehab loan with a small down payment, renovate it and get roommates in there to cover your expenses and give you more runway, then either refinance out or get a HELOC *before* you quit your job. Once you are at a place where you are living for free and have access to some capital and the ability to float for 12 months without income, then you can quit.
Yes it sucks to defer your plans for maybe 6 more months, but you will be learning important parts of the business the whole time and at the same time making sure that you have a better chance of success for those crucial first few deals.
Thank you for the kind advice! Unfortunately I will not be taking the advice, and instead will commit to working full-time. I believe I can make it happen.
However, I will make sure to consider your advice going forward. I appreciate you taking the time to write out!
I thought about this deeply and this was my initial plan. However I reasoned that completing a deal while employed would be several orders of magnitude more difficult to achieve in my current situation where working 12 - 16 hours a day for this company has become an unchanging norm (to avoid being fired for under-performing).
However, I do have enough to float for about a year without any income. Yes, this money was intended as a down payment for a house-hack or first flip. I just felt that committing less than 12 hours a week (I don't work Sundays for personal reasons) to this first deal would not be enough for me to reach success, especially with the growing pains that tend to come with a first deal. I also felt that this might detract performance from my highly demanding job, which would eventually lead to me being fired. Also, I don't want to find another job simply because I don't want to find another job to work for someone else.
Thanks!
