How did you get started in real estate investing?

Question

Good morning BP!

How did you get started in real estate investing? What has your investment journey looked like since?

Greg Scott · Answer

Just like a kid that starts with a tricycle, then training wheels, then a bicycle, that was my progression.

- Turn key single family rentals

- Direct purchase of single family rentals

- Bigger and bigger rehabs on single family rentals

- Invested passively in apartments

- Syndicate small apartment

- Syndicate large apartments

Jim K. · Answer

I did three lipstick flips in Greece in 2006-2007. My girlfriend's rental apartment, her condo, and then my condo. Then I left Greece without the girlfriend, because nothing will teach you more about a potential life partner than going through the process of renovating her house with her.

I was lucky because I left Greece just ahead of the great economic crash. Took all the money out of my condo and put it in an American residential townhouse. Spent about two years here dealing with the culture shock, then got married to a nice Russian lady. And my wife actually brought us our first rental property deal. That was about 11 years ago.Single-family buy-and-hold at first, then duplexes, sheriff sales, pocket listings. I learned to be our own handyman, gradually grew my skill set and confidence. I met several tradesman also involved in real estate, most notably my plumber, who continues to mentor me.  Right here through Bigger Pockets, I met a few other people who gave me timely, sagacious advice and real help when I needed it. I eventually ended up with a solid little portfolio that's chugging along nicely and producing enough income to start to go beyond the simple mom-and-pop DIY-landlord business model that we always, always knew limited us.So we invested in our first apartment building last year and international political circumstances finally allowed us to put together a good-sized, extremely solid and reliable renovation team of laborers and tradesmen. It was very much turning a corner for us. Now, things are different. Different to the point that, at the moment, I'm not sure how much I really should talk about it here. Suffice it to say, if you suspect this website might connect you to people who can really help you, both locally and nationally, you're right. I used to laugh at the idea of calling myself a "real estate investor." I was just a glorified handyman who bought and ran a few rental houses and duplexes, knew a few contractors and bankers, had walked my target areas a few hundred times, and I was just doing pretty much what my grandparents did back in NYC seventy years ago.

Nowadays, I have to accept that trying to duck the REI label just makes me look like a liar.

Jevon Shaw · Answer

Started off as a teacher. Not too proud to say that I was a little insecure about how much I was making compared to individuals with similar levels of education. So I started digging and discovered the awesome wealth building tool that is real estate! My first deal a little over 4 years ago was a house hack. I don't yet have a clear vision of where I want to end up but I know I want it to end with me being financially independent.

Kerry Baird · Answer

Bought a live-in fixer while stationed with the Air Force in England.  Did that at the next base in Arizona.  Started doing direct mail to pre-foreclosures.  Bought 3 a month, fix and flipped them.  Got orders back to England. Figured out how to buy houses back in the US, bought a few houses that we never saw, usually near AF bases.  Used tax returns, bonuses from work for down-payments.  Back to the US, bought another live-in fixer near the beach.  Started talking to tired landlords while biking on the barrier island, picked up 2 owner financed houses on the island that I turned into STRs.  Refinanced the older houses as they developed equity, and bought one big STR.  Total houses 39.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

Bought our first primary in 1998.  Got a heloc for seed $ and lease optioned it 4 years later. Moved to a trailer park closer to family 3 states away and started doing Lonnie deals with trailers.    Just being out there got us a 10 unit mixed-use and our staple single family rental type within a year.   Our families thought we were crazy.  Found a niche in seller-financed commercial plexes and another dozen smalls along the way. Rarely wasted time or money refinancing.  Sold most of it last year on contracts.  Our 'career'  in a nutshell.Working on a manuscript and now what as we speak!

Carlos Valencia · Answer

I started with my primary and currently working on saving some capital to buy an investment property either in southern California or out of state still trying to figure it out. Happy to be here in BP community and continue to learn.

@Albert Bui

@Matthew Kwan

Mariel DeVito · Answer

I don't know if the word "accidentally" is appropriate but we bought our first one - a condo - as a plan for our future retirement home three years ago.  It was located in our city's downtown area where would like to live in someday.  Of course, this was when the market rates dropped and opened up opportunities for others.  It's been about three years now - my portfolio has grown from that one condo to about 6 houses and 1 condo.  Note: we sold the condo and upgraded to a house instead.

Katlynn Teague · Answer

Thank you so much to everyone that took the time to share their investment journey with me! It is so rewarding getting to see how real estate has been able to change lives and create a community like this one.

Andy Webb · Answer

Ditto...except for the turn-key starter, went straight to rehabs, and according to this progression, it sounds like owning a small multi-family is next for me!

Andy

How did you get started in real estate investing?

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