Newbie from Miami Florida
Greetings Everyone, I've actually been a long-time lurker here but am finally coming out of the shadows :). I am a huge fan of this site and the podcast. I think Josh and Brandon do a fantastic job.
Have read and been bitten by the Robert Kiyosaki books about 6 years ago and have had the fever and the dream of at least not needing my 9-5 since then, but I've still yet to do a single thing and its driving me crazy. Sometimes I get depressed when I listen to the podcasts and hear how people 10 years younger than me have 50-100 properties and are making multi-million dollar deals.
I've have been interested in real estate for about the past 6 years or so and have attended some local REIA meetings and some guru seminars a while back and have been burned but have also met some really good folks as well.
I'm a software engineer by trade which I enjoy and its a decent living but my dream is to not 'have' to work but work when I want and ultimately have that much sought after "freedom" and be able to step off the technological treadmill.
The problem that my wife and I have with the buy-n-hold cash-flowing aspect of real estate is that we don't want to deal with the tenant and repair problems. My wife has much much more trepidation about this than I. She basically has anxiety about thoughts of having to deal with tenant and repair nightmares to the point of where she thinks it would take a mental and physical toll on health and so understandably has massive aversion to the idea. Also, I work remotely and my wife and I live in a motorhome. Although we haven't been traveling much of late, we're looking forward to getting on the road one day. So because of the above stated reasons we’d like to be as hands-off as possible. To this end my ultimate real estate dream is to have a 100+ unit apartment building because I understand that a building of this size could support a full-time maintenance person and property manager. To be honest, if I owned 100 SFRs and could still be hands-off I wouldn't care. What ever will work!
So my problem is that I'm having difficulty honing in on some kind of strategy or way of just getting going. Since we've had to stay in Miami for some time and will likely be here for a while I've studied and devoted a bit of time to the residential 'wholesaling' thing with the thought that doing so would force me to learn how to 'buy it right', estimate repair costs, and make connections with other investors and tradesmen. But then I think this would just be another job albeit one I think I might enjoy because I'd be working for me :). I've also had a few sporadic short-lived thoughts of fixing and flipping, but I know that is also not as easy as it sounds. Anyhow... I go back and forth on all of this. This is the problem! lol
Then I think, if commercial real estate is what I'm after, then I should just go for that directly and put all my energy and focus into that. This thought is often followed by the thought "but what if I completely discourage myself right out of the box being a newbie by shooting for the moon?" and that "starting out in residential would be a much better way because that seems easier to enter and find one's way around and then, in time, I could graduate to commercial".
In the mean time I'm studying to take the FL real estate sales associate test and get a real estate license. I'm doing this for a few reasons. Firstly... MLS access :). Secondly, I figure It might help to have my license to potentially represent myself in possible sales as well as possibly being able to work with other investors who might be able to show me the ropes. And thirdly, it actually is pretty interesting to learn about the various laws and concepts associated with real estate since we all come into contact with them at some point or another.
I've actually been thinking about what I would say here in this introduction for a loooong time. And I've been looking forward to the day that I would open myself to this community and embrace it and become a part of it, but I've hesitated for a loooong time for some unknown reason. And here's how its happening... I didn't even plan on today being the day but I just logged into BP for the first time in about 6 or so months(lots of stuff going on in personal life with spouse, family, and job) and saw the 'introduce yourself' section on the home page and said 'ah what the hey... I'm going to do it today'.
So please feel free anyone to offer any advice to a struggling newbie that they may feel so inclined to give, and know if they do it will be humongously appreciated!!!
It's a great pleasure to meet everyone :). I look forward to the possibilities and vast potentials that I know exist within this community. It is an absolute pleasure to be allowed to participate in this incredible forum and medium that Josh has built. I am eternally grateful for it. I feel, as I'm sure most if not all of you already do, that this is a very different and very special real estate website and community and I'm honored to finally be a part of it.
Cheers,
-Luke