Where do I begin???

Last year I joined Bigger Pockets and started my journey as a real estate investor.  I had no experience in real estate other than my personal house.  I had a very successful career.  Then my son was born premature and he needed a lot of care.  So I decided to leave my career and pursue real estate so I could have the flexibility to care for my boy.

I consumed everything about real estate.  Podcasts, book, youtube... everything.  Thanks Bigger Pockets!  I even became a real estate YouTube vlogger myself to document my journey after I quit my job.

11 months later I closed on the biggest deal that I couldn't possibly have ever imagined doing!  A 54 unit apartment complex in North Carolina for $4.4 MILLION.  I negotiated the deal so that I only had to put down 10% and the seller agreed to owner finance 90%.  The owner was willing to take $4 MILLION in seller financing from someone he never met and someone who had zero real estate experience.  I don't think he even checked my credit.  I would like to say that I am a pretty good negotiator but I am probably just "lucky".  My experience has been the more time you put into something and hustle, the chances of you hitting that lucky deal increases.

I am in the second full month owning the property and I feel confident that I am going to hit the numbers that I modeled. I underwrote the deal at a 25% IRR which is a crazy return. The other fact is that my boy is very healthy now so everything worked out. My next goal for 2018 is to acquire 100+ units. The crazy thing is I got another deal where the seller was willing to seller finance a $10 MILLION deal. The numbers didn't work for me on this one so I am still searching.

The moral of the story is that it is totally possible to do this real estate thing in a big way.  You just have to have the right mentality and the develop the skills over time.  It's definitely a numbers game.  How much work are you willing to put in before your get first big deal?