New to Seattle!! New to BP!! New to Real Estate!!
Hello everyone, my name is Casey and I just recently joined BiggerPockets! I'm really excited to have discovered this site and every day I'm just absorbing as much as my brain can handle. I am currently in Issaquah / Klahanie but I want to live in the Belltown or Lower Queen Anne or maybe as far north as the Ballard area
A little bit about myself: I'm 26 and originally from Alpena, Michigan... about a 5 hour drive north from Detroit on the coast of Lake Huron. I started going to college for Music, I'm a classically trained singer. At 19, after my first year I decided to drop out and join a non-profit group called The Young Americans. I started performing with them, toured to about 15 different countries and while we were on the road we would stop at schools and teach the kids of the community about music and theatre and then put on a show to raise money for the school's music and arts program. It was really rewarding and kind of like what Robert Kiyosaki says... working for knowledge. I didn't get paid, but everything was provided for me and I had a lot of fantastic experiences. And trust me... teaching kids is probably the biggest customer service training ever!! Think of shows like Dance Moms and then have 300 of those ladies breathing down your neck for 5 years straight... definitely learned how to handle people in a calm and collected way. I learned how to read people.
So I performed with them for about 5 years while also living and working in Los Angeles in between tours. I did a lot of side work as a Production Assistant behind the scenes on TV shows like "Storage Wars" and "ESPN Sport Science"... basically just a big guy to have on set to do all the lifting and grunt work. Then I decided to move to Portland, OR for a year to live with my brother and get myself together... and then I moved here to Seattle at the beginning of 2015!! Since the start of this year, I've been realizing that real estate is the way for me to go because I can definitely still have the freedom to do music and theatre while making money and building a passive income... no longer a "starving artist." So, I got roped in by a guru in February who kind of combined real estate seminars with multi-level marketing. It didn't work for me, but I'm not blaming them for my lack of funds at the moment... I should have done my homework and realized there were great resources already available to me, like BP. I can probably write the program off on my taxes and at least I learned how to write some ad copy, set up good looking websites, and do PPC campaigns on Bing and Google and Facebook.
So I need some advice!! The Seattle market is definitely a little confusing for me just starting out and figuring out a business plan... But I do have goals!!
~Very near future: Acquire a small multi-family and house hack!! At the moment I think that I would use seller financing... I don't think I really fit into conventional mortgages at the moment, but we'll get there. Maybe private money would be an option, but I'm currently reading some things that might provide more ideas and options. Advice is very welcome! Maybe I could landlord for someone... help me learn while having a place to live.
~ Short term: This is where I need a lot of help defining my business plan. So, I could keep scaling up the multi-family buy and hold plan... like the 7 Years Millionaire plan. But I want something more active and I need more than a few hundred a month to be coming my way right now. I love the idea of doing fix and flips, I love a great project to work on and while I don't have any real world construction experience, my parents were constantly fixing up our house... hanging drywall, fixing some simple plumbing, hanging lights and ceiling fans, painting, painting, and more painting. I know my way around a sewing machine, too. Yes, this guy can definitely make some nice pillows and curtains. And I'd say I'm good at figuring what layouts and decor would really be best for a space... I come from artists so I think that I have an eye for colors and can easily judge what works and what doesn't from an aesthetic and functionality stand point. What I don't really know is how much things cost and what to look out for when going through the deals, etc... but I feel that I can easily pick those things up within the first few projects.
I like the idea of wholesaling, but its mainly just for the idea of quick and easy money if I'm being honest. But I know that its really not easy money... takes marketing or time driving for dollars and a heck of a lot of negotiating. But if it works, I'm all for it to build some capital that I can put into future projects. And I definitely have plenty of time on my hands at the moment to do it. I suppose I would learn the acquisition portion of the business by wholesaling, and could scale wholesaling up into a fix and flip business when I find deals that I want to turn into my own projects.
Thoughts? Advice? What's working for you in Seattle?
Long term: I want to own a huge apartment complex and live in the penthouse! Haha Not really, but kind of. My long term goal is actually in commerical real estate I guess. I have a dream of a parking structure somewhere near Pike Place Market... people will always need a place to park down there! I would renovate the top few floors. My flat is at the top, I live there and its where my team can meet and small events are held. The next few levels below my level are a music/dance/theatre studio and bigger event space. Part of the music area is hostel style, short-term boarding for visiting artists or artists getting on their feet in the city or just travelers. The parking and rentals pay for the teaching, parking, and management staff. I also want it to function as a space to help the community... homeless relief or a place for the food bank or soup kitchen. If students can't afford music classes, they can volunteer at the community center to earn credit towards classes. The structure should also use the elements of the waterfront to sustain itself... solar, wind, and water/rainfall therefore adding money into the cashflow by providing its own utilities. Its a space that has a circular momentum between it's many functions, every area continues to give to the other. That's the dream I'm working on, combines my passions, definite cashflow, sustainability towards environmental factors, and gives back to the community.... I love it and can't get that dream and idea out of my head. I'm going to make it happen, I'm shooting for at least have it under construction by the time I'm 30. Time to get to work!!
Thanks for reading my novel of an introduction!! Would love to hear any thoughts you all may have on my aspirations or if maybe you can see another way towards setting up my ultimate long term goal!! Anything I can learn right now is very welcome! Let's grab some coffee and I'll help you set up your website and teach you how to run it yourself while you teach me about... anything! Or I could give your kids some voice lessons!! Or walk me through your renovation costs before I stay late and clean the heck out of your fixer upper the night before its open house.
I know real estate is for me. As my old director used to say to me, "Its not if, but when." This is the case for me. Its not if I'm going to be involved in it for the rest of my life, it's when will my first deal begin on this incredible journey! I've definitely got a lot of motivation to hussle and start now! Thanks advance for any advice or guidance.
Casey DeCaire