Hello everyone.
I just stumbled upon this site the other day while doing some internet research at work. I was blown away by all the great information and stayed on the site for almost five hours. Since then I have been back every day and have learned a ton.

I own a land surveying business in the Richmond Virginia area. It is a common misconseption that surveyors have any kind of advantage with real estate deals. By the time I hear of anything the deal has already been done but I do have a general understanding of real estste law and have made a lot of contacts.

About five years ago my wife and I decided to invest in real estate for our retirement. We did not have tons of cash but we did have great credit scores and equity in our personal home. We were uneducated but avoided being ripped off by taking our time and not letting anyone pressure us into buying something until we both thought it was right for us.

Because it is a side business for us, we take a bit of a different approach than some of the people that I have read about here. We only buy houses that we would live in if we had to (if the economy does not imoprove we might have to). We bend over backwards for our tenents. It makes more work for us but we have great long term tenents who do not destroy our houses.

Thanks for a great site and I'm looking forward to my continuing education.