My First Post: What I'm doing & What else could/should I be doing.
My Background:
I am basically new to real estate investing. I am 25 years old. I have a full time job and am a volunteer fire fighter. I have been "around" real estate most of my life my parents have long dreamed of doing real estate and have done a couple deals in the past one successful, one not so much. My father has been a real estate agent for about 5 years now. Even before this we would constantly be looking at homes weather that was looking in windows of homes for sale as we drove by or when we were moving viewing 50-100 homes before we found the right house. I feel I have a decent knowledge of basic real estate terms, and an elementary understanding of most of the concepts (fix n flip, buy and hold, wholesaling) I know I am far from an expert on any of these I am learning as much as I can everyday through pod casts on here, reading forums the beginners guide, and any other opportunities I come across to gain knowledge. I have been a member of this community since 2009 only occasionally checking in and receiving the emails. Until this past year i was able too purchase my own home at about 50% of market value.
My Current Situation:
I work between 40-60 hours a week right now, most weeks more towards the 60 hour mark. I have some personal debt I am working on paying off so the more hours I work the easier I can accomplish that. My current goal is to be completely debt free by 30 unless that debt is producing cash flow. Everything I have read says you need to have a plan and be prepared, so here is what i am doing before I jump into attempting any deals.
- Commit to becoming more involved on bigger pockets, by posting commenting on other posts and learning as much as possible in my spare time from this incredible free resource (9:35 PM 3/5/13)
- Speak with a project manager I work with who currently has at numerous rental properties that I know of outside of work. (1 week goal)
- Creating a basic business plan. I know that will continually change as I grow and develop in this business. (My goal is to have that done by 4/4/13)
- Find and attend a Real Estate Investment group meeting (1 month goal)
- Establishing an LLC to run my RE business out of (that is a 3 to 6 month goal)
- Preform 1 real estate deal, preferably a fix and flip to help build capital and a track record to get OPM to work for me. (12 month goal)
These are the basic goals I have set for my self over the next 12 months. I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions on if these are good ideas, or if some of them are unnecessary, or if I am missing out on any essential parts of starting out in this business (Which I am sure I am).
Please respond on here or contact me by email, phone anyway possible of contacting me I am willing and available to talk to anyone who is willing to talk with me. I live in Rockford, IL its about an hour away from Chicago I would be willing to speak in person also after speaking with someone a bit. I would love to be contacts on here or linkedln feel free to add or request me.
Thanks for any advice,
Chris Du Melle
[email protected]
Cell# 815-218-5395