All Forum Posts by: Micheal Waldrup

These are great to see @Andrew Cordle . Thank you for taking the time to share this with us! It turned out beautifully. I especially like the subway tile, always had a thing for that for some reason. Great work!

If it's typical Texas wooded, maybe setup a deer lease for a couple hunting clubs? "Split" the land in half, setup a couple of simple structures for sleeping, and charge a certain amount per person using the land for a season. If you setup the club yourself, you could fully manage / screen the people involved. Not to mention that you'd be able to charge more per member probably. Or just contact a local hunting club and see if they're interested. This would give you a large sum of money with less work. 

Just a shot in the dark, but it may be something to entertain just to get some type of income out of it. 

Thanks again everyone. 

This is all a lot to think on, so I'll just let this thread fall off. I have tons of great recommendations as well as some better perception on the realistic side of REI.

You were all so helpful! Let me know if I can help you all in any way. 

Please let this thread die now. :-P haha Too much already to chew on. 

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I certainly have a lot to think about and will make sure I keep everyone up to date on how it goes. There are a lot of options and a lot of differing opinions as I expected. There's also a good bit of realism salt (in the wound) thrown in which is absolutely necessary and appreciated. 

I'm going to be taking the slow and steady route. For everyone concerned about my family and finances; I understand in the context I asked the question that it seemed I might be taking too big of a risk. This is not the case, but I appreciate the thought. I have other savings and emergency funds. I have insurances continued both through my wife who is in the medical profession, and through my remaining in the reserves for an amount of time after my discharge. I also have an EXTREMELY marketable skill in nuclear power as a fall back. Not to mention receiving 6-figure job offers 7 months from my discharge, one of which I will be deciding to take in November.  This is why I'm turning down a $95k bonus to stay in. They have to offer these bonuses to keep enough people from going out getting easy 6-figure+ jobs.  (I really hope this doesn't come off wrong, it's the reality of my situation right now, just sharing.)

I'll certainly be sticking around and learning from you all. In the meantime, it won't hurt to spend a little money here and there 'finding my swing' per-se in REI. Thanks again everyone for your contributions. See you around!

Welcome @Rashanda Harris !

There is a pretty good contingent of military (I'm one of them) on this forum, especially centered around the Virginia Beach area. I'm also getting started here now and I'm due to be on terminal leave in Nov. I'm setting up my wholesale and flipping business now and will be very active here in the community for the foreseeable future.  

This forum is great and the community is really responsive here. Let the questions fly because I've already seen the egregious amount of experience and knowledge you can use here. 

I'll see you around! Wish you and your Husband much success! 

@Will Barnard Great insight! 

I'd imagine jumping so quickly into so many properties would present it's own unique set of challenges. Probably more than any beginning investor could handle. I very much appreciate the reality 'slap in the face'. To me, the logistics of it all combined with the required amount of leverage for that many doors puts it clearly into my 'later' bucket. 

Thanks everyone for helping me to get clear on my goals and path. This is a fantastic community, and you all are testament to it. 

Now to make some connections and continue moving forward!

@Mehran K. I've actually listened to #37, I'll be sure to download the #18 for the drive to work on monday. I feel confident in being able to focus with it. My wife is willing to help with what I need and is more than competent herself. I doubt (from reading your contributions) that your preference to focus / systematize is a reflection of your intelligence, it's probably more a preference of personality. :-)

I'll be sure to keep everyone updated. Thanks again all!

@Sharad M. Thank you for replying. 

It's funny that you mentioned the working backwards method. I actually created a spreadsheet to do exactly what you are talking about last night. The further I got into it, the more I realized that (at least locally) it was near impossible to achieve that income with rentals and my current investment limit. I used the J.Scott rental analysis spreadsheet to analyze hypothetical rentals (HUD / Homepath / Homestep properties). In every scenario I ran through, my money was tied up at somewhere between 3 - 5 properties with income being nowhere near the $5k mark. Even with taking into account the great terms on Homepath financing and such. This exercise basically eliminated the idea for me of jumping straight into rentals since I'd prefer not to work in my current field for more than a year after my discharge from the Navy.

I like the path you chose with a basic marketing campaign and a flip to start. I imagine that has a lot to do with your current comfort level with real estate. I'm really torn between options when taking into account the comments of @Russell Ponce as well.

Luckily, I have a Wife who can and is willing to help with much of this. I'm leaning towards the option of moving on with the marketing campaign and actively searching for a flip at the same time. Thanks again for your input!

 Also a great point Russell. As I mentioned above, I limited my thoughts about achieving this outcome. Cashflow isn't so much the goal as replacing an income, and I should be more clear about that.

Spreading myself too thin here is certainly a concern. I'll continue to research for a bit more time before I get too deeply into a path. From the information I'm reading, it makes sense that even as a wholesaler I'd have a good 3-6 month wait before a steady stream of deals anyways. It's clear now that a similar timeline (3-6 months for payoff of any significance) is achievable with any number of paths. Thanks for contributing!

 Great point Jean. By the way, I'm in Nuclear Power, precision with language is fine with me.

On your point, I think a better way to ask this is with the end result in mind. I'd simply like to replace a $50,000 - $70,000 / year job to start. Thanks for clarifying that thought for me. It's hard to realize a self imposed limitation without it being pointed out.