Hi everyone.  I am very excited to have found Bigger Pockets.  

My name is Daniel Mohnkern and I am from Titusville, PA.  I have lived in Detroit, MI (former city ;-), Buffalo, NY, and the Chicago, IL area before settling down in this quaint town.  

Having grown up in a rather poor family, and barely learning how to balance a checkbook in my high school, I quickly decided, shortly after marriage, that it was well past time to change my family tree.  In my distress, I responded to a radio commercial for a Wade Cook Stock Market Institute Trading seminar in 1999 and began my long dive into the world of making money outside of a "job".  I immediately started making and losing money in the stock market and, wanting to educate myself further, accidentally chose to read Robert Kiyosaki's THIRD book, "What the Rich Invest In That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not".  I thought it was going to be on the stock market.  Boy was I wrong.  I was a little disappointed until I started getting the big picture about Real Estate and Business.  Upon finishing that book, I quickly bought his first 2 books and was immediately hooked.

My challenge was that I wanted to know everything before getting in.  I don't know why I treated it differently than the stock market but I did.  I read DOZENS of books, went to several seminars, hired coaches, and wasted much money I could have used on deals.  I learned a lot of information but had nothing to show for it except for what was in my head.

Finally, in 2006, I used my tax refund to buy a duplex that has long term tenants who never do anything wrong.  It didn't take long to fall in love with rentals.  Don't worry, I know that one was probably very lucky.

I found Bigger Pockets by listening to various podcasts and hearing it mentioned as the premier podcast for those interested in real estate.  Who said that?  None other than Dan Miller on "48 Days".  I loved his podcast and followed his advice.  Boy am I glad I did.  I started on the very first one and have not stopped listening since.  I listen to them on my "BeyondPod" App while I'm driving around the country for my job (a Charter bus driver).

Once I found the Bigger Pockets site, I instantly fell in love with it.  I refused to waste my time on Facebook and Twitter because I saw little value in posting about arbitrary things that no one really cared about.  Bigger Pockets is so much more than that.  I can finally get to know people who are of like minds.  I can learn, network, socialize, and eat, sleep, and drink REAL ESTATE.  

I am about multi-unit rentals and possibly commercial real estate in the near future.  It would only make sense to be willing to wholesale here and there as well while finding what's right for me.  I really look forward to connecting with others, sharing experiences, learning, and, when I can, teaching, networking, and helping others here in this great community.   Talk to you soon!

Daniel Mohnkern