Jump in. You Can’t Imagine Where it May Lead.

    I am not a big time investor doing lots of deals and making a fortune.My real estate activities are actually fairly modest but since my life style is also simple I no longer have to work in the profession I was trained for (pharmacist) unless a situation arises that interests me.  I got here slowly and rarely planned on the next leap until I was presented with it.  I was never completely prepared before I took that leap and made plenty of mistakes but it has been well worth it and I am convinced most of the journey is still in front of me.

    I am going to give you a history of my path but I am also going to ask you for some input on my current project.Is that fair?  I hope so.  Maybe this will encourage you to take your first step if you haven’t already or to take a leap at an opportunity that looks like it is beyond your mastery at the moment.  You will never know unless you try.

    My first real estate deal stemmed from selling my personal residence.  I was open to creative selling techniques and the Realtor I hired was a real estate investor (he had a portfolio of single family rental homes).  I sold my home on a land contract and received a significant down payment.  My Realtor saw that down payment and asked if I would be interested in loaning a portion of it to him for a few months.  I listened and though I was skeptical I made the loan.  I didn’t think of myself as a real estate investor and had never intended to become one but I was, indeed, a real estate investor at that point.

    The Realtor paid off the loan then asked for another larger loan.  The duration was a bit longer but we also changed the terms to address possible issues.  That was paid off.  We did it again.  I knew the Realtor was making well more than I was with my money.  The next time he asked me to roll over the funds I asked for a piece of the deal and he promptly refused.

    I was still receiving the payments from the land contract (that home was not encumbered by a mortgage—the monthly payment was significant and there were no expenses other than taxes associated with the income).  The interest payments on the loans to the Realtor were also becoming attractive.  The Realtor was using my funds to buy rental property.  He was a good businessman but he was not a genius.  I knew if he could do it that I could also.  I was ready for the next step.

    With the help of the same Realtor I bought my first rental.  I soon bought a few more.  I was still working as a pharmacist—my income was good and bank loans were easy to obtain back then.  I was searching the MLS on my own by now and found a house in my farm area at a compelling price.  I called my Realtor for a showing and was told he was quite busy and couldn’t get me in for a few days.  Are you kidding me?  He sold my home, I funded several of his deals, bought 3 rental homes from him (plus a quick rehab deal which I bought and sold through him) and he was too busy?  That wasn’t going to happen again.  The next step was obvious.

    I found a 5 day course which met the requirements needed to sit for the real estate exam (in Michigan that was 40 hours of class time), registered, completed the course and passed the exam a few days later.  I bought the home which took a couple days to see but that was the last commission that Realtor earned from me.

    I continued to buy rentals (I never owned many more than a dozen).  I did an occasional rehab flip and, rarely, sold a rental.  I didn’t usually see the point in selling since they always cash flowed and I was usually looking to buy another as soon as a deal presented itself.

    When I discovered self-directed IRAs I transferred some funds and began to loan funds to other investors again.  They started out very short term, my first borrower arranged short sales and sold them quickly, usually within a couple months.  Now I have a small group of investors whom I fund and, sometimes I am called on for advice on how to structure a deal or to complete it.  I do approximately a dozen of these a year.  Though I am on the periphery of the deals I do know the mechanics and I have become a better investor (and a little wealthier) through my participation.  I have helped a few investors become lenders themselves.

    One of those investors approached me last year with an idea to knock down an existing home and to build a spec home over it.  I never planned on being a real estate investor, certainly hadn’t envisioned being a landlord.  A lender…please.  Now I was asked to participate in a new construction project.  What did I know about new construction?

    I said yes.  Now I have another set of partners and I know quite a bit about new construction;  however, I am not an expert.  If you have read this far I would like your help and your feedback on the website we have set up for this project: www.507Gardenia.com .  Please note: I am not trying to sell this house here.  This is not a good deal for an investor and, frankly, this home is in a very hot neighborhood—I expect it will sell at the open house.  I am planning another new construction project and plan on using the website as a template.  I am asking for your input to make this site as good as I can.  You cannot generally post links to websites on BP but I have written to Brandon and he said it would be alright in this limited instance.  Please don’t take this as an excuse to abuse BP policies.

     I suspect my journey is far from completion.  I had not imagined it would take me to where I am and have no idea where it will lead.  You can have much more success than I but you must first take a step and be willing to take a leap of faith once in a while.  You cannot and do not need to know everything to succeed.  If you are reading this here you have probably heard this many times.  I hope this is the time you finally take it to heart. Take action.