All Forum Posts by: Lyle M Smith

@Bill B.

Thanks for the feedback! I would easily swallow my pride and live with my folks if I could but can't. Whole life insurance was somewhat of a poor decision but with only $140 coming out a month for it I am going to ride it out to have options for loans down the road. As for the other investments I probably will pull back a little. I plan to leave the crypto in there though because I am making 30-40% on staking dividends. 

@PJ Booth

Thank you for the kind words! Breaking into the 30yo barrier last week makes me feel behind so appreciate the encouragement! Ha ha

@Baird King

Thanks again for reaching out! That was great connecting. I will see you next month.

@Justin Windham

Ive noticed how friendly and helpful everyone is on here. That is NOT a characteristic of all other forums ive been a part of. I guess REI's are just happier people! Thanks for the tip Justin.

Hi all, My name is Lyle and I am new to BP. I’ve been wanting to get into real estate investing for the last several years. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a drive for investing. I currently live in Santa Barbara but I am a Philly native. It looks like by early August I’ll be heading back that way to regroup and potentially find a new market out east to dive into. Staying in Philly to invest is a possibility as well. I wanted to give you all the details on my financial position and see if anyone had any tips for next steps to take. Thanks for reading!

My position
-30 years old

-$80k a year salary as an Estate Manager for an upscale construction company

-$80k in cash savings 

-$40k in stocks and crypto with $250/month contributions 

-Whole life insurance policy (140/month)

-5% matched IRA ($3k total so far)

-Zero debt - 760 credit score 

-Selling pretty much everything and living frugal and minimalistic.

Steps taken

-Immersed myself in everything RE. I’ve been reading books, put on BP Podcast instead of Music in the car, deleted Instagram and swapped mIndless scrolling for educational YouTube, online brokerage viewing, BP, etc. 

-Taking notes, learning and using terminology, reaching out to others and attempting to grow the real estate part of my brain.

-Drastically reduced spending. I finally got myself to write down my budget. I calculated my monthly overhead and subtracted it from my monthly post-tax income. I divided the remainder by 30 days to put leftover cash in daily perspective. $50. So I try to keep spending under $25 a day and think of the other  $25 is a surplus.

-Working towards getting a remote sales job. My brother and several friends make a good living this way and they are completely remote. I feel like this could dramatically open up options for me with moving around and shopping markets while still working full time.

-I’ve been selling and getting rid of things less than necessary. Time to conquer materialism.

Next Steps:

- FHA loan house hack? ($200-500k du,tri,quad) to live in for the year. Either in Philly or somewhere to the south.

-Improve income, lower over head, learn to live without impulsive buying!

-Join REIA. Been researching around Philly and I will definitely be attending some meet ups when I move back.

-Seeking out mentor. My dad is a great resource (owns comercial RE, owns HVAC business, well connected with contractors and others in Philly area) however I would still like to start relationships with seasoned investors and successful landlords. I plan to offer up my weekend free time to help out with grunt work in exchange for info and advice (I’ll pay for lunch too).

I’d love to hear what people think I should be doing different or planning to do next. Specific or General. Thanks for your time!