I started my real estate investing career in 2005, back when I was a mortgage loan officer and the market was booming. I bought my first two bedrooms two bath condo that I house hacked and rented the other room out for $525 a month. Things were going so well in those days I ended up buying two four-plexes that were completely rented by students and had a property manager in place, I figured after all the expenses I still was cash flowing so this was a good deal I could not pass up. About a year later I ended up selling my condo and moving into a much more expensive loft in downtown L.A, why? Because did I mention, business was booming and I could afford it. Then guess what happened?! The real estate crash happened and I lost everything as many others did during this time.
With nothing to show but a bankrupcy on my record, I moved to Las Vegas to start fresh in an industry that had nothing to do with real estate. Little by little I started to save up a lot of my money while renting being a renter, then in 2010 I got back into real estate and bought underappreciated two bedrooms two bath condo for 36K, yes, that cheap. There was so much inventory during that time from the collapse anyone who had capital and was looking to buy you were able to get properties pennies on the dollar. I put some money into it to bring it back to life all while living there, then I repeated these steps three more times since then building up a decent rental portfolio.
Last year I decided I wanted to venture into the flipping side of real estate after listening to constant amounts of podcasts here on BP and hearing how others were doing it, I wanted to be one of those people. So, I took the plunge and did just that. I randomly met a wholesaler from Dallas here on BP and he sent me what inventory he had available. Mind you, I lived in Las Vegas and I knew no one here, not one realtor, GC, hard money lender, NO ONE! But guess what, that didn't stop me from moving forward from doing the deal, after running the numbers I knew it was a good deal to be had. Of course, I ended up finding all of those people before moving forward with it and it turned out fine despite doing my first flip EVER virtually from Las Vegas. After its completion, this gave me the confidence to repeat this process once again in Dallas, but this time I bought so well I didn't have to make any repairs to the property and whole-tailed it for a nice profit. This brings me to flip deal number three that I purchased (and currently still working on). This project was supposed to be done in three months from start to finish (I'm currently in month four), BUT, as luck would have it Dallas has been hit with so much rain like it hasn't seen before within the last 15-20 years. This house had foundation issues, which I knew, but I did not anticipate getting hit with so much rain to cause this delay further than I projected, which ultimately translates into more holding costs ($).
Which brings me to the point of writing this, we all will face adversity in some way. Many people are fearful of trying something new for fear of the unknown or the what if this or that happens you tell yourself in your head. Did I forecast Dallas receiving so much rain? No. Did I get frustrated? Of course. Did it discourage me from wanting to do this again? Definitely not! I think doing three flips in one year is a great accomplishment from not doing any before and I am proud of my success so far to move forward in my real estate investing career. Most people will read this and say you see, that is exactly why I wouldn't do something like that, while others will say if he can do it why can't I? Yes, why can't you? The answer is simple, FEAR.
