I'm happy to report that I have met my real estate goal for 2014 to get started and buy something! I just closed on a 4-plex which should give me about 15% cash on cash returns, and will cash flow about $500 per month.

Its been a year long journey to get to this point, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it!

At the beginning of 2014 I set goals to educate myself, find a market, establish a team, and buy my first property. After reading the Millionaire Real Estate Invester I was convinced that MFH buy and hold was what I wanted to do. I started out determined to invest locally in state in California since I was new to every aspect of this business. I also made my own property analysis spreadsheet and decided that I wouldn't invest in anything that didn't give me over at least 12% cash on cash returns. Although I found some markets and deals in California which would cashflow, nothing really met my financial criteria. By October - still property-less - I began to question my strategy and criteria. After all, a strategy which isn't resulting in any investments, isn't much of a strategy at all. I was certain that I didn't want to lower my cash return requirements. So although it terrified me, I decided that I would start looking out of state.

It was around this time that Jays investment summit happened in San Francisco. I met many out of state investors, and started understanding how to mitigate some of the risks of out of state investing. I connected with @William Robison there and after the summit we started talking about investing in Kansas City. After some searching, we found a deal, I vetted the numbers with the incredibly helpful folks in the Deal Analysis forum, and closed on 12/31!

As of today, I'm a landlord! Time for my analysis spreadsheet to meet reality. *gulp*

I am deeply grateful for the community here on BP. I certainly would not have made it to this point without you guys. So, thanks @Joshua D.  and  @Brandon Turner  for making this place awesome - especially for noobs like me.

Thanks to my local buddy @Troy Fisher for the early and continuous encouragement to get started.

Finally, thanks to @J. Martin for his advice, inspiration, and for creating many networking opportunities for investors in the area, especially the *annual* :-) summit in SF.

I'm ready for you 2015! :-)