What route did you take?

Question

With such a good mix of experience levels on BP I'm curious to know what route did you all take to get to your first deal. Buy and hold? Wholesale? Rehab? And why?

Account Closed · Answer

@Jessica A. Smith

Foreclosure on the court steps.  Paid around 42k, put about 10k into it and closed on it for about 92k 5 months later.  I would not have changed a thing, because that experience got me to where I am today.

Aishah Amina · Answer

Hey fellow milso! My husband is army national guard in Virginia. However he is AGR (active guard reserve) so we face the possibility of him being stationed somewhere else in VA. We just decided to have our first home built and it will be done by the end of March. I was hesitant because we may have to move. Hearing you got started in real estate is real inspirational. Thanks for sharing.

Elizabeth Colegrove · Answer

My husband is active duty navy. We got started with a personal property with the VA loan. Once we were transferred we rent the those out. The bug bit us so we bought another investment. We invest my income into rentals and buy at every duty makes sense. 4.5 years later we have 7 houses and a growing empire.

Maggie L. · Answer

Started looking for a place in grad school when I started having medical problems.  I was looking for a passive income because I was considering a major surgery that could mean a long recovery.  Picked up a duplex, made some improvements to increase rent, and wanted to get another.  I'd been bit by the RE bug.

That one was a BIG project, living downstairs while fixing up after a hoarder in upstairs unit.  Just started renting the top short term while living in the bottom and I'm an agent that works with a lot of investors.  I get to see a lot of different investment strategies firsthand, get my data fix (I was all about data and quantitative work in grad school) looking through the MLS, and helping other people find their next property keeps me from wanting to purchase more properties than I could fix up and manage myself.

Jack Butala · Answer

@Jessica A. Smith

Great post.  I started out flipping land with $500.00 and never really stopped.

Ryan Billingsley · Answer

@Jessica A. Smith

I started with $1000 and a small direct mail campaign.  6 weeks later closed on my first wholesale deal making $10,500.

Chet Mazur · Answer

My broker pitched me a duplex owned by a guy that passed. Neither child wanted the property so they sold it.

Andy Robison · Answer

Still starting out.Looked for a way to make some additional income while I was over in Afghanistan. Ran across a ton of books for real estate investment. Forgot about it them for a few years while living in California, moved to missouri and started talking with my parents about their retirement. They didnt have a plan, talked about real-estate. They were on board, bought our first rental a couple years ago, I bought a duplex the next year, and this year we just completed our first flip, contract is on it for $20k in profit. Going forward we plan on buying one rental for every 3 houses we flip. Hope by end of the 2016 to be flipping 3 houses every quarter.

Jessica A. Smith · Answer

Elizabeth,

Do you all buy and flip or hold?

What route did you take?

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