Newbie from Mishawaka, IN

[Michael Hill]

Good evening BP forum! 

I'm a divorced father with 5 children.  Oldest daughter is 19 and goes to college.  Four kids from my recent marriage.  Oldest some (13) lives with me full time.  My other three kids are with me for a week at a time,  every other week. 

I've always had a burning feeling inside to put money into real estate.  Back in 2007 my spouse St the time and I moved to Illinois.  We had a hoise that we bought beforehand and wound up renting it out when we moved. I figured that would be the start of something wonderful.  

A year later,  she was being sexually harassed at her job so she quit.  Had a very hard time finding work,  we lost our sitter,  and had to file for bankruptcy.  

Never had an opportunity to get back in the saddle as she was against the idea of anything besides being a stay at home mom, which left me footing the bills with not much left over.  

Now that my divorce is a couple years behind me,  I'm wanting to be more serious about tackling this beast and really get involved. 

My main focus would be buy and hold to help build something of value for retirement.  

Been reading quite a bit over the last several months and figured I should at least show enough courtesy to stop in and say HI . 

[Paul Timmins]

@Michael Hill

Welcome. Fill in the foundation below.

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 100 past ones to catch up on.

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and rehabbers (cash buyers). Find them through Google and meetup.com

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good Luck

Paul