All Forum Posts by: Scott Phillips

The world moves fast...  The first property we're purchasing in Arkansas as a rental is under contract and will close early next month. The home we're selling in Boise is under contract and will close later next month. We're nearly packed!

Scott

Hi Jeter. At the time, we were young and adventurous, so we bought the least expensive house in all of Ada County, Idaho, for $125,000. We were in a bedroom-community town about 15 minutes outside of Boise. It was off-market, but a friend connected us with the realtor who owned it. We used conventional financing and put down $25k.

It was a two bedroom one bath DUMP.

We did a live-in remodel that turned it into a three bedroom, two bath adorable cottage with impeccable landscaping. We sold it for $200k a few years later.

Looking back, we should have kept this house, refinanced it to pull out as much equity as possible, and offered it as a long term rental.

Scott

Hi Wilber. I once read that President Kennedy, early in his political career, disliked speaking to groups in public. He overcame the discomfort by adopting a "cocktail mindset" before advancing to the podium. He simply channeled that warm glow that follows a few cocktails and used it to displace any fear while speaking. 

In the course of my soon to be former day-job, I have attended many forestry and ag industry events. When I first started, I prepared a list of "conversation starters" to use while networking that touched on the intersection of my work and the interests of people I'd be meeting. This worked great.

Best of luck,

Scott

Hi Jeter. We started about 15 years ago with a series of live-in flips. We'd buy the worst house in a good neighborhood, live in it and remodel is over a 3 to 5 year time period, sell it and repeat. This let us build considerable equity in the house we're selling right now in Boise. In turn, proceeds from the sale of this Boise house will fund a number of rental properties we intend to purchase over the coming year in a less expensive market.

Best of luck!

Scott

For several years my wife and I have talked about pursuing a different path, beyond working for a W2. During the past two years I've devoured information about real estate investing. Over the past 8 months we accelerated the remodel of our home in Boise, preparing it for sale.

As of today, we have a single family home that will serve in the short term as a landing pad in Heber Springs, AR, under contract and scheduled to close early next month. For the long term, it will be our first rental property. We listed our primary home for sale in Boise on Friday and had it under contract 22 hours later with closing scheduled for later next month.

It's happening!

I appreciate the many Bigger Pockets forum members who share their knowledge and ask questions about real-world scenarios. Without this forum, I don't know if we would have had the courage to embark on this grand new adventure.

Scott