I am nervous, I am ready.

[Fernando Martinez]

Hello my friends. My name is Fernando, I live in Wisconsin and my goal is to grow in this forum, learn real estate and learn how to manage my finances. I am 34. THe funny thing is that here I am, sitting in my basement and I was about to play video games. I just came into the realization that gaming is no longer what I want to do. I have been clean for 35 days and after thinking about the reason of me been here playing video games I now understand that I was hiding from the world. I now feel a little bit of hope. Even if I am scared from the whole world I want to change my ways. My credit is bad 580. I need to pay debts which I already started. I just paid a $500 credit card debt and I am working on more. About $20k in total. I have a good job. Anyway I want to meet people. I want to invest in real estate. I want to fail and try again. I want to get control of my finances and my future. I want to build wealth not just for myself but to help my family. I want to have a addiction treatment center. I want to be free and help addicts find freedom. Its time to grow up and even when I feel this is a little cringy I am done with hidiing. 

Can someone help me by telling me where to start please? I am trying to make a zero based budget and I am a little confuse on how to pay my debt and balancing the numbers. Then I am trying to decide if to buy a multi family or a single family so I can flip it.  My goal is at lesat to buy my first property a year from now. I am willing to learn.  

Nice to meet you. Here I go.

[Drago Stanimirovic]

Fernando, big respect for your honesty , you're not hiding, you're starting.

Focus first on building a zero-based budget: every dollar you earn gets assigned (bills, debt, savings) until there’s zero left unplanned. Keep paying down debt, start with the smallest balance to build momentum, and aim to raise your credit score above 620 for better financing options.

If you’re buying in a year, consider a small multifamily (like a duplex) and live in one unit. It can help cover your mortgage and build equity, while flipping a single-family requires more cash and risk upfront.

You’re on the right track. Keep learning, stay consistent, and don’t go it alone.