I'm Janine "JJ" Conwaywho has been involved in "real estate investing lite" since 1999.  I say "lite" because up until last year my experience was basically military-driven: Move somewhere, buy a house, rent it out, move somewhere else buy a house, rent it out... and so on... 

A couple years ago our government went through a furlough and that's when I realized I could afford to retire and move home. I didn't, because I have other goals, but that realization pushed me into adding "education" to what I already did as a financial planner. Real estate investing is the #1 recommendation I make to clients who need to start over in mid-life with their wealth-building efforts.

I have also been involved in private lending deals where I contributed to other investors. Two years ago I invested with someone who overbuit the property, couldn't sell it, and then walked away. I lost enough money in that deal that I realized I could have put that money into my own property.  And so that's what I did: last year I bought a cash house in Baltimore City, rehabbed it and got it rented out.  Had a lot of issues and learned a lot.  Guess I caught the bug because I can't wait to save up and do it again.

I came to Bigger Pockets because I needed a property manager.  I've had **bad** experiences with property managers, but I was 9 months pregnant and I couldn't keep driving up there to a) finish out the property and b) work on finding a renter.  I found some recommendations here and one of those has really worked out for me.

I've been lurking for about 6 months now, and really excited to finally "join."  

Take care,

JJ