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Posted over 9 years ago

I'm Broke but the World is My Oyster

There's a lot of discussion about when to quit your day job and jump in to investing full time. Unfortunately, that was a debate I never got to have. For the last seven years, up until January of 2014, I owned and operated three franchise sandwich shops. We had some good years, but I never really enjoyed the business. In fact, I hated the business. It caused the kind of stress and anxiety that sent me to the shrink's couch more than once, and that's when things were good. In 2010, the business took a nose dive for too many reasons to name here, but it should suffice to say that I was stuck in some very, very bad leases with no idea how to get out. If you were an investor buying retail business, I would have been an extremely motivated seller. In fact, I ended up selling the business to a competitor for very significant loss. 

I could have hung in there, kept running the business, barely scraping out a living and being generally miserable on good days, but I have truly one of the best dad's in the world. He knew how unhappy and constantly stressed out I was and it pained him. As a dad of four myself, I can very easily put myself in his position. So, in the fall of 2013, he came to me with a proposition: sell the sandwich shops at a loss, we'll put the balance I owe the bank on a home equity line against his house and then I put everything I have into flipping houses and we'll split the profits until I pay him back.

Wow, talk about a get out of jail free card. Trust me, I get it, I am beyond fortunate to have this offer, but as God as my witness, I will not squander this opportunity. I will double every cent he has loaned me. 

Now, this plan of my dad's isn't some pie in the sky, pipe dream. We are a real estate family. My dad's principal occupation is real estate appraising, but he also has experience in new construction and fix and flips. In the 80's through early 90's he developed track homes in South Norfolk and Chesapeake. From the mid-90's through the mid-2000's he built high-end spec homes, mainly on Virginia Beach's North End and the Chesapeake Bay. When the market crashed, he switched from high-end to picking up run of the mill 3/2 REO's for flips. He'd do a couple a year. No big deal, his main business was and is appraising. But here's the key: as an appraiser, he kept seeing the same buyers picking up non-MLS properties for super cheap and then generally re-selling for more than their comps. In short, he knew the profit potential. Nobody had to convince him. Furthermore, he knew that when I put my nose to a task I will get it done, no matter what.

So my task was clear: find the same type of deals the high volume local investors were getting, find the investor friendly contractors, run the jobs and any associated details and he will handle the funding.

Up next: the way not to find a deal, our first deal (kind of), how were funding our deals


Comments (3)

  1. Thanks for the positive comments. They're fuel for the inspiration tank!


  2. ?Very inspirational story Christian. Thanks for taking the time to share that. It certainly makes me want to double down on my own investment strategy. Wish you all the best.

  3. Christian, nice article.  I'm glad that you have such a good support system.  Also, the fact that you took a risk to start your own buisness speaks volumes.  Life is about taking risks and learning from each experience.  I'd rather try and fail than be comfortable and have regrets.  I wish you luck in your future endeavors in real estates.  You seem to have everything in place needed to succeed.  I look forward to seeing how your journey progresses.