The Game Plan

Alright, so the obvious plan is to flip houses in 2016. But how do I get from here to there? Well let me lay out some things that I believe are instrumental in reaching that goal. I'm going to give time lines as well so anyone at a similar stage can see what I'm doing and maybe build off my plans.

1. State of Mind: It's time to get ready (again) to accept that I'm going to be getting exposed to some risk. I don't see it as huge of a risk as everyone else at the stage I'm at, does, but none the less, it's there. The key to confidence is preparation. If you are prepared, you should be confident, or at least un-afraid. I'm not quite prepared yet as I once was, but I will be by Dec 2015.

2. Capital: How much am I going to make as a Cardiac Nurse? A tad bit more than $30/hr (tangent: Why do people get so offended when asking how much they make?). Between October (when I start) and Dec, I plan on saving up a total of $10k - $12k, conservatively (remember, plan for the worst, hope for the best). With that money, and along with the fact that I'll be making a decent wage, I'll have access to ~$30k in private capital. So I should have $40k to play with by 2016.

3. Knowledge: I'm going to be brushing up on my knowledge of flipping houses between now and Dec 2015. This is a part of getting in the right state of mind process. I'm going to read all of @J Scott's two books on flipping and rehabbing (located here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/store/ebooks/order?i...), plus stuff from the forums/blogs on BP. I may also post a question or two.

4. Prep Work: Very important... This is also a part of getting in the right state of mind. What is involved in my prep work? Besides what I've already listed I also need to create a list of contractors, get in contact w/Realtors, and lastly, make a list of rehabbing item costs via @Will Barnard's list located here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/BarnardIN.... This will be done by Dec as well.

5. Buying my First Car: This one, I'm unsure of as of now but I'm thinking of buying my first car. I'm looking to buy for under $15k. I know people love the humbleness of say when Steve Jobs owned a really old SUV, but here's my thinking about going against such an idea. Safety. I've been in something like 5 or 6 car accidents. One on a bus, one while riding my bike, and four in a motor vehicle, two of which resulted in totaling the vehicle. Imagine I was in an old $4k car that was not built to handle a car crashing into it as... gracefully newer vehicles can. If in the same car wrecks but a different vehicle, I'm quite sure I would've became paralyzed or at least critically injured. This is why I don't buy the humble idea of owning a really cheap car, I believe you should own a vehicle with a really good crash rating, and everything else, including price should come secondary. Image if you became paralyzed via a car crash? I've seen people in the hospital and it's a very tragic thing. Now, are there cars with really good crash ratings that are cheap? Maybe, I'll have to research it. But I've never owned a car before so it may be time I actually get one.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

As the good ole Terminator once said, I'll be back.