All Forum Posts by: Jason Sirois

Wow! What a great and FAST start to this journey! Very inspiring. Thanks for the share and best of luck moving forward.

To continued growth!

Thanks for the note @Kevin Grinstead. Having a tech-forward mindset is important to me. With the limited research I've done and in prepping for my license, there seem to be several opportunities in technology improvement in the industry along with a lot of noise. Good to know KW understands the importance of investing in good tech up front. I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Hey @Account Closed, you bring up an excellent point. It is one that I have thought long and hard about during my decision-making process in deciding to retire from tech. I have lofty investment goals in addition to working as a successful full-time agent. The path I've chosen will no doubt lengthen the time in which I will again become a healthy loan candidate.

Some of my thoughts during the decision making process:

1. A move was inevitable. I will move out of the Bay Area to plant deeper roots into a community where I see myself living for the next 10+ years (I’ve had my eye on Denver for about 3 years). San Francisco just isn’t going to be where I raise a family.
2. A career transition was inevitable. I love the freedom real estate can help anyone achieve. I’ve truly enjoyed my career in tech (sales & operations) however, I want to apply my sales skillset face-to-face (my strength) instead of over the phone. This will help me build a strong network of real estate-minded people. Plus sitting in an office ALL DAY for the last 6 years has been awfully stuffy!
3. To achieve my goals, I have no choice but to get really good a spotting a good deal. Sure I can spend time after hours analyzing deals on the side, but what better way to know a good deal when you see one than to LIVE the industry?
4. The gamble. Because real estate is a relationship-driven industry and your netWORTH, is really made of your netWORK, I decided that the time value of building strong relationships sooner than later would pay dividends above the value of a single home purchase I would be able to complete over the course of a year (I know this is debatable based on how good the deal was). In addition, at the end of the day, I’d still be at square #1 of my real estate career journey with fewer relationships if any. Have to start at some point right?
5. I would have qualified for a home purchase prior to quitting my job, however I didn’t want to buy in the Bay Area (have you seen the prices?) nor did I want to burn through the lion's share of my cash reserves on a down payment that will be necessary to support me during the first few months of transitioning to a real estate career. Passive income from a single property would not have been enough to live off of.

This left me with 3 options:

1. The wishful option: Keep my job in San Francisco for another 6 or so months, apply for a loan to purchase a house in the Denver area (ideally a duplex, but man good ones are tough to find right now). House hack it by renting half the unit for 75+% of the mortgage amount while I transition to Denver and start working in real estate. A good option if the right home run deal came along. I didn’t find it in time.
2. The safer option that will make me a less qualified loan candidate for a while: Quit my job, live rent-free for a few months (thanks Mom and Dad) while I get my real estate license, move to Denver (and rent), get a job as an agent, use my stash of cash to live off of for a while until the commission checks start to roll in, HUSTLE, HUSTLE, sleep, HUSTLE for as long as it takes to kill it and become an attractive loan candidate again.
3. The yeah right option: buy a shoebox in the Bay Area that would force me to burn ALL of my free cash on a down payment then rent it out to (hopefully) cover the mortgage then pray nothing went wrong (Did someone say earthquake?).

I chose to walk through door #2. The decision to leave the Bay Area was not an easy one. I’m motivated to hit the ground running when I make the move. With my back against the wall, the hustle will burn hotter during my journey back to “great loan candidate” status.

I’ll look back on this reply on this day each year and chart the progress. I hope plan to report good news!

Thank you for the thoughtful reply.

All the best during your journey!

Wow @Rodolfo Canon great knowledge and info. Thank you!! My main focus right now is training and development. Working with other agent/investors is important to me. I'll certainly consider this as I get closer to the interview stage of my journey.

Thanks again and I'll be in touch!

Hi @Shannon Witters , thanks for the recommendation! Your thoughts align with what I've read and heard from other folks as well.

I found a local Bay Area REI group here on BP by searching for events in my area.

They meet every 1st Wednesday of the month at a downtown SF hotel. Good people.

Check out the group here.

Good luck and thanks again!

Hi @Teri Feeney Styers, I'm looking at opportunities in and immediately surrounding Denver to start out. I don't have a brokerage or my own living arrangements lined up yet but have been hearing great things about Keller Williams in terms of training for new agents.

If you have any specific recommendations or thoughts on the topic, I'd love to hear them. Feel free to send me a DM.

All the best.

Thank you, @Kevin Grinstead I'm excited to get some ideas flowing once I arrive. I attended a meet up in the Bay Area recently and it was a great way to connect with some good people. No surprise there. All the best!

Thanks for the warm welcome, @Marla B.

Hi BP Community,

I've been consuming BP content over web and podcasts like candy for the past 12 months and wanted to finally (formally) intro myself.

My name is Jason. I discovered BP in the fall of 2017 which removed the blinders from the scope of opportunity that is in front of each and every one of us every day, yet I was (almost) completely oblivious to.

I started my career in tech sales in San Francisco where I earned my sales grit. This led to the development of many strong relationships and a network of talented individuals. Through the daily grind of selling to SMBs and the experience of starting a sales team from scratch, I have strong experience in "systemizing" a lead funnel leading to constant improvements in sales efficiency at both the rep and team level (ask me about sales enablement tools, I love them!).

When I turned 30, I got the life direction compass out of my pocket and put some thoughts down on paper to get a better idea of exactly where I was headed. The destination of the direction I was going was not a bad one, however, some of my life goals (home ownership (X many), a yard for my unborn kids, laundry in my own unit, passive income to go to my unborn kid's field trips on a whim...) were just too far out of striking range within my preferred timeline. So...

I've listened to the BP Podcast each week, I've read several books on REI and FI, I got fired up, and wait for it... quit my job in SF to study for the real estate exam to become a Colorado Broker/Agent.

I'll be moving to Colorado in early 2019 and already looking forward to connecting with like-minded hungry and POSITIVE people in this community.

It feels real now.

Thanks for reading this far, LET'S DIVE IN!