Greetings BiggerPockets extraordinaires', 

My name is Mike and I have been referred to this website by a friend. Never heard of BiggerPockets until just a few days ago.

I'm aged 27, 28 in November, and am a four year college graduate with a Finance concentration. I got my first job in the automotive finance industry with a company called Westlake Financial Services, specializing in subprime auto loans. I worked as a bank representative, signing up dealerships across the country and teaching them how to use the patented system developed by Westlake in order to help facilitate their sales and add to their bottom line. I marketed and promoted to new prospective dealerships to use us, and mended relationships with dealerships who had issues with us. I had a producing dealership base of about 20 in 1 year and a half, which by my company's standards was pretty good. Throughout my time working as a sales representative, I realized my skills geared heavily in the underwriting/analysis part of deciding whether or not a loan was too risky or potentially profitable and reliable. Therefore I moved departments and began my career in purchasing loans via bulk acquisitions from dealerships. I excelled in the analysis of loan performance and whether or not we should buy, or  decline. 

After three years working for this company I decided to leave because I wanted to pursue my career in Credit Analysis/Loan Officer. To my disappointment, I never really found a position that took me in despite my experience and current level. I wasn't in any financial trouble, so making the decision to leave the company without securing another job wasn't that big of a deal to me. Fast forward a year and a half later, and now I seem to have hit a "quarter life crisis" where I'm having difficulty accepting office jobs that appear to have no life and no substance to them. Unfulfilling, if you will. Also, throughout my time away from the car business, I have come to the conclusion that I no longer even want to be a part of the car business anymore because "it's just not me"! 

During my time in college, was when the financial bubble of 2008 was in full effect. I had a choice to major in Finance, Real Estate, or Law. I dislike law, and I absolutely loved Real Estate. But the time we were in, steered me clear from choosing it as my career path. HAD I KNOWN that it would come back to haunt me later on, I would have full fledged gone for it. Instead, Finance was my last option, so I went for it. It's not doing me much good anymore, since I have no plans to become a Wall Street type of guy or anything. 

But my sudden appreciation for real estate began to boom as I have met several people who do real estate, and it all sounds so fun. I'm not talking about being a real estate broker where I list homes and someone contacts me and I have an open house and then try and convince every damn person to buy it so I can make a commission. I'm talking about the really sexy stuff. Investing in real estate, income generation, leveraging 50,000 into buying 3-4 apartments and making them earn you money (Grant Cardone I love you), buying a home severely underpriced due to its condition, rehabbing it with some elbow grease and some sweet sweet love, and selling it for a killing. Whether I'm buying a parcel of land or a home, duplex, apartments, hotels, WHATEVER.... THAT is what I'm interested in! And I seem to have an innate passion for it too because it makes me excited just thinking about it. I watch numerous property TV shows (such as the property brothers), or that one show where they buy a house via auction and all they're allowed to do is look at it from the outside, make the decision to bid, and instantly they can make $60,000 just by buying it or by a real downer where they have to fix a bunch of stuff before they sell again.... Forgot the name of that show. Anyway, lots of real estate shows out there and more often than not I tune in. People don't realize that even these shows can teach you very important things about real estate. Yes well, I will capitalize on every bit of information I can attain from good sources.

So now, here I am at BiggerPockets beginning my real estate journey. Ideally I want to become a savvy entrepreneur, but I'm sure you've already figured that part out. I'm seeking knowledge, education, and most importantly MENTORS whom I can learn from. For all you experienced people out there, let me thank you right here and right now for being you, who you are, and for extending your gracious generosity to us by feeding us information that is key to our success. I have a lot of love and respect for people who willingly take in someone under their wing and show them the ropes. I hope to one day give back to my community and to people by taking them under my wing and teaching them just as I myself have been taught. This is my dream come true - to be financially wealthy, doing what I love, and giving back to the world.

Thank you for reading my introduction,

~ Mike