Hey everyone!
My name's Justin Wotring (I pronounce it like "Watch-Ring") and as the title suggests I am new to the RE investing gig. I'm a husband, father of 3 (one boy, 7, and two girls, 4 and 2.5 months), part-time assistant Little League coach, and part-time Cub Scout helper. My day job is being Technical Supervisor of a Clinical Laboratory. As you can probably tell, life's a little busy!
I currently pay a mortgage on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in a nice neighborhood in OC that we've been fortunate enough to live in for 5 years. Before that, my wife and I had purchased a condo together (pre-kids). We plan on upgrading to a 4 bedroom since the addition of the 3rd kid, as we have some nice equity built up on our place to help with a down-payment. That's about the extent of my real estate knowledge.
How I got here:
My day job costs me a 2-hour commute M-F, so I quickly decided to splurge on an Audible account so that I can gain some knowledge while I zone out in SoCal traffic. That eventually led me to download and listen to "Rich Dad Poor Dad", which subsequently led me to download and listen to "Rich Dad Advisors: ABCs of Real Estate Investing" by Ken McElroy. Both of these books really opened my eyes to earning passive income through buy and hold real estate investing. When I'm not listening to audiobooks, I also listen to podcasts (mostly ESPN's Fantasy Focus Football, which helped me win my first championship in a very competitive 12-team PPR league *humble brag*). Now that it's the off-season for football, I stumbled across the Bigger Pockets Podcast a couple weeks ago and started listening to a few episodes, which ultimately led me to this site!
My goals:
As a newb living in Southern California, I don't want anything to do with rental properties in my area, as the market is waaay too expensive for my pockets currently. As such, I'm busting out my binoculars and looking in other parts of the U.S. (suggestions welcome) to buy and hold multi-family and single family homes where it's more affordable. I have some cash that I'd be able to borrow from a combination of my 401k, IRA, and/or savings accounts to use as down-payment for my first property (somewhere in the ballpark of $100k). Once obtained, I plan to follow the BRRRR method. Ultimately, I'd love to build enough passive income to allow me the financial freedom to retire early, support my family as the kids get older, free up my time to do things that I love, and be a volunteer/philanthropist in my little part of the world. Since I'm new to the RE investing world, I'd love to network with anyone on this site and build a solid team of like-minded, motivated individuals.
My inspirations have come from BP's own David Greene ("Long-Distance Real Estate Investing: How to Buy, Rehab, and Manage Out-Of-State Rental Properties", and BP Podcast Episode #257: "But My Market is Too Expensive!" (How to Become a Long-Distance Real Estate Investor)), and Bryce Stewart (Episode #276: "Early Retirement ($10k/Month) by Age 35 with Bryce Stewart"). These two guys have really shown me that my goals are attainable!
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to have the pleasure to get to know you and possibly work together on a future deal! I'm really excited to be a part of this awesome community!
Best Regards,
Justin Wotring
