All Forum Posts by: Nick Coonis

welcome @Taylor J. I'm brand new here too. This site is great for newbs like us because there are some many kind people willing to share advice!

@Karen Margrave  Hello Karen, I have this setup in my home and it works great! My living room is long, about 20', and we used to have the TV on one wall and the fireplace was always behind our backs. Now we mounted it above the TV and on those cold winter nights, you know the two or three we get in So-Cal, we can watch TV and enjoy a fire at the same time. We've never had any issue with the heat, and we have a gas/wood fireplace. Most of the heat goes straight up. I could see how the TV being too high would be an issue if you had a small living room, but ours is far enough away from the couch to where you're not looking up at it. 

I mounted mine through the stone tile that is on the wall above the fireplace, and into the framing with a heavy duty mount and I've never been worried about it structurally. I also ran my cables through a sleeve I found at home depot, mainly because it looks nicer than having a bunch of separate cords hanging down.

@Samantha Billetter  welcome to the site. I am brand new here as well, and I have similar goals to yours. I'm closer to the Orange County/LA County border, so I can work wither side of the tracks. I think wholesaling is the way to start for me but definitely not my end goal. I've read a lot on wholesaling and from what I understand, it's a great tool to learn how to find deals for future fix and flips or fix and holds. Good luck!

Thanks @Michele Fischer  I appreciate all your kind words. I have a broad plan, but I'm currently trying to nail down a functional/working plan. Especially how to actually start, that seams to be the hardest part.

Thanks for having me @Brandon Turner  I was actually thumbing through real estate investing books on amazon and I found your free beginners guide book. Instantly bought it, (wait, can I say "bought it" if it was free?) and that led me here. I love your book by the way, I just started it a few days ago. I also bought a book on wholesaling by Than Merrill which I read first. I've been listen/semi watching some of your videos on YouTube on my grueling drive home from work (can't really watch and drive). Not that I'm saying siting through an hour and a half of L.A. traffic it's like skipping through a dandelion meadow, but your videos made that skipping even more enjoyable! It's nice to hear a younger established investor's advice.

Thanks @Joshua McGinnis this has been one of those things that I've always planned on pursuing as a career, but I just got stuck in safe bet, day job scene. But 10 years and 4 kids later, here I am! It's time for me, I need an out. We are surviving, but I want more for my family. Plus, enjoying my weekdays is a foreign concept that sounds amazing to me!

Thanks a lot for your comments @Dmitriy Fomichenko I downloaded the beginners guide last week from amazon, that's actually how I found this site!

Hello, my name is Nick Coonis and I am brand new to this site, and to investing. I am a father of four, and have a beautiful wife who has been a trooper with me for 10 years. I currently work in commercial construction as a Safety coordinator/shop manager, and have been for the last 10 years. My wife and I just had our forth child, a baby girl named Charley Rae, and that was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I don't want to be away from them for 12 hours a day anymore with not much to show for it. I need freedom and wealth. 

Real Estate has always been a passion for me, I started in residential remodeling, furniture refinishing, plumbing and electrical maintenance, etc. I've even done a few office additions for my current employer. I recently fell deeply in love with designing homes. Though I'm not an architect at all, I'm pretty good and CAD drafting and hand drawing designs. I starting taking design courses and learning CAD programs because I bought some land with the intent to build my family a home. The home never happened, but at least I discovered a new passion... and I still have the land of course. 

My goals in real estate investing are to jump right in as quick as possible. I have been researching like crazy, and the most attractive model for me I think is to fix and flip for living expense income, while holding and renting at least one property a year to keep as rentals for long term wealth. I think I may have to briefly start with wholesaling to gain some initial capital, but that's not what I want as a career. Developing raw land into custom single family homes is also an option I would like to pursue in the future. I'm kind of at the age (35) where if I'm going to make a career change, I need to make it happen like... NOW.

PS, I love this site so far and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it. Thanks in advance for your comments and advice! I'll take any knowledge or insight you can give to a "greenhorn".