The Beginning
Being a full-time real estate investor is not as easy as people will make it seem. There is a lot of juggling, negotiating, long hours, and sleepless nights. Anyone who tells you different he's either lying or got lucky. I have been investing in real estate since 2007 and became full-time real estate investor in February 2015. I think it is important to give you a brief background of how I got to February 2015.
I was never great in school growing up. It wasn't that I was not intelligent but that I was lazy because I didn't see how school would help in life. I excelled in sports and became extremely competitive. I was a C student in school. We grew up poor, eating wish sandwiches and wearing hand me downs. My family opened a business, was able to afford Mercedes, a boat, and several vacations a year. My parents went bankrupt when I was 16 and we lost everything again. At 17 I went to my first semester of college and quit. At 20 I join the Army and served for three years active-duty and then join the National Guard and served three years.
At the age of 23 I was honorably discharged from the army and began attending St. Petersburg junior college in St. Petersburg Florida. During this time is when I really started investigating real estate. I began by researching properties and crunching numbers to see if I can make money.
At the age of 25 I met my future wife who is then living in Modesto California and I moved to Modesto to be with her. This time I went to California State University and finished up my degree in business management with a concentration in entrepreneurship. Into thousand five I received a small settlement from a lawsuit and my wife and I decided to buy our first home. We made about $90,000 on that property by pure luck (at the time I would have told you that I knew why I was doing). I would have said this because I had been managing a borders books and read every book that we sold on personal finance and real estate. My wife and I decided it was time to have kids and we wanted to be closer to her family. We moved to Albuquerque NM.
Comments (3)
Thank you for reaching out! Unfortunately, I no longer live in Albuquerque.
Adam Bartomeo, over 7 years ago
Hey I just read your blog, are you still an active rei? And also do you currently live in abq? I just moved back here recently and an trying to network.
Robert Swingle, over 7 years ago
In 2007 at the height of the market we purchased our primary residence and a few months later a rental property.
Within a year we were underwater on both properties and had a negative cash flow of $100/mon not including Maintenon on our rental. While working 50 hrs a week I began throwing newspapers in the morning to cover the added expenses. I wasn't going to fail to honor my commitment to the bank of paying off the loan.
We after another year of struggles we were able to refi both loans and the rental was now breaking even, again not including maintenance. Our first renter didn't work out and wound up leaving after 9 months, it was a mutual departure.
Our second renter was an answered prayer as we only had 3 months until we wild have lost the house if we didn't have a tenant. They stayed for 2 years and were late on 18 of the 24 payments. We collect the extra income and the beat up the property.
Our third renter paid 1 1/2 yrs up front and went into a rent to own contract after thy but that only lasted 14 months. They wound up leaving due to the loss of a job.
I continued to rehab both properties in hopes that the market would turn around. Little did I know 9 years later the properties still wouldn't be worth what I paid for them. I poured $55k into my primary residence and $40k into the rental.
We didn't have any more action in real estate until 2013.
Adam Bartomeo, over 8 years ago