New Member from Newark, DE

[Matthew Dipietro]

Hello BiggerPockets community!

My name is Matt and I just opened my membership yesterday but have been reading information from various sources on real estate investing for a few months.  I am currently working full-time and pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree online.  I also have plans to pursue my real estate agent's license in Delaware after completing college next year.

I am excited to learn everything I can about investing and the real estate industry.  My wife and I have always been excited about real estate but thought that we were too broke to ever make it.  Recently, I have found out that is not true and hope to be able to begin investing sometime next year.  

We started thinking about this industry when we thought about buying a new house last year.  Our thought was, "why sell our current house when we can continue to gain equity by renting it out."  Then the ideas just grew from there.  I look forward to networking with and learning from all of you.

Have a great day!

[Jason Hatfield]

Originally posted by @Matthew Dipietro:

Wow, it is great to get so much support from you all! Thank you all for posting you have each given me some insight and empowered me even more to make this into something greater. I was not expecting to receive this much input but am glad to see it.

@Matt Lennander I sure hope big plans can turn into big realities someday. Thanks for the support and kind words.

@Mark Nolan I look forward to diving into more of the blog posts and pod casts. I also love the set up of this site. The no soliciting/self-promotion policies make it easy to exchange ideas and ask questions without wondering what everyone's true intentions are.

@James Wise I am glad you said that! I wasn't sure if becoming a real estate agent would truly be beneficial to investing or force me to follow a strict set of rules set in place by another company. I saw that you are a broker and own your own company. Do you feel that being an agent has helped you grasp a better hold of the intricacies of the real estate business and given you better access to resources than if you were investing without your license?

@Muhammad Anas Razzaq I actually just saw yesterday that Berkshire Hathaway was named one of the top employers in Delaware in 2014. How have you enjoyed your time with them so far? Also, it is great to meet someone who is already established as a real estate agent in the area since I am planning to become one myself eventually. If I have any questions as I get closer to attending the real estate course I will be sure to ask you.

@James Masotti I will be sure to check out the thread! Hopefully I can make it to the meet up, if not I look forward to attending one in the future.

@Jason Hatfield I get more excited about business principles each semester. I have been working on my degree off and on for roughly 10 years now. So, I am glad that it is (FINALLY) coming to an end. I bounced around to a few different degrees as I found my way but am so happy that I decided to stick with a business degree. I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur and my business related classes have gotten me closer than ever before to realizing that dream. I never thought to correlate school quality and house values before, that is a great technique. I love the Newark area and hope to begin my investing somewhere in New Castle County. I remember a friend telling me a few years back that UD was trying to upgrade their campus. I have seen a few changes with the addition of some luxury condominiums on main street and it seems like they are finally going to attempt to revitalize the shopping center with the bowling alley and movie theater on the east end. I hope that these improvements may counteract or improve the quality of the high schools and grade schools in the area.

 Thanks Matthew.

I would recommend that you start attending the DE are Real Estate Investor Group monthly meetings.  There are two that I know of, DELRIA and GDREI.  Shoot me a message and I'll get you the info on the next  meetings. The networking you will do before and after the meetings is as priceless as the content shared in the meetings themselves.

Best of luck