Hello from new investor in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

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Hello from new investor in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Justin Stern
Software Engineer · North Chelmsford, MA · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 0 votes

Hello BiggerPockets!

So despite just getting into real estate investing last week I already have deals in all 50 states thanks to my large network of investors... (I kid, I kid!)

Seriously though I've been interested in real estate on-and-off since I first noticed my hometown (Bedford, MA) beginning to boom in the late 90's; unfortunately I was in high school at the time and stuck on the sidelines (or so I believed). After that was the usual I suppose: college with a computer science degree at UNH Durham-go Wildcats!, then a cubicle job for a couple of years. Had enough of corporate "life" by 2011 and left to make my own way and started (and continue to own and operate) a small software company with an awesome co-founder and a team of 9 now.

Earlier this year my interest in real estate was reawakened, thanks in large part to the awesome Book on Rental Property Investing (highly recommend), and a desire to diversify my income. Since then I've been doing my best to listen to every BiggerPockets podcast, read just about every article being posted, tons of books, and begin meeting other local real estate investors.

At the most recent NEREIA meetup in Chelmsford, I was blown away by the presentation by Lisa A Parda of RealtyScape on underperforming multifamily homes, and all the awesome folks I met there (everyone from complete newbies like myself, to 40+ year veterans). I'm really looking forward to the next Black Diamond meetup in Waltham and hope to meet a bunch more BP members (seemed like just about everyone at NEREIA was a member!).

Besides all the book learning I'm currently scouting around the greater Lowell area (Chelmsford, Westford, Tyngsborough, Dracut, Billerica, etc) for my first deal: ideally a single family to fix and flip, or a multifamily to BRRR, with a goal of doing some sort of real estate deal this year or early 2017. I'll be sure to post about that first deal when it happens (whether success or failure) here in the BP forums. In the meantime I'm looking forward to meeting more local investors, and more great BP folks all over the place!

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  • Ann Bellamy
    Lender · Tyngsboro, MA · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    welcome to BP, Justin, see you Tuesday!

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  • Paul Donoghue
    Real Estate Investor · Dracut, MA · Member since 2011 · 104 posts · 35 votes
    10y

    Hi Justin,

    Welcome aboard.

    Consider looking at Leominster and Fitchburg Mass.

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  • Shaun Reilly
    Landlord and Rehabber · Newton, MA · Member since 2010 · 2k+ posts · 877 votes
    10y

    Hi Justin, welcome to BP.

    This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

    This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

    Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have.  The NEREIA group is a good one so you should try to get to that one each month.  Up your way is also the NH RE Mastermind in Nashua and you might want to look at The Boston Investor's quarterly meetup which will be onsite at a rehab project in Andover.  Black Diamond is great!  They are in Worcester this month and Waltham next month, worth trying to get to both if you want.

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  • Justin Stern
    OP
    Software Engineer · North Chelmsford, MA · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    10y

    @Ann Bellamy thanks for the welcome! Unfortunately I wasn't able to make this week's Black Diamond due to a scheduling conflict, which I was seriously disappointed about because those Elm Grove guys looked like they would do a really interesting talk. With any luck I should make the next one in Waltham anyhow

    @Paul Donoghue thanks! I see you're from Dracut, cool. Have you had luck finding deals out a little further west? I'm not hugely familiar with leominster/fitchburg, though I did take the kiddos to Great Wolf last week so I was out that way recently

    @Shaun Reilly Thanks for the tips! I am indeed chugging through the BP podcasts, started with episode 1, they're great. Flipping Junkie by Danny Johnson is also really good. I went to the last NEREIA meetup, had an awesome experience. Planning on doing Black Diamond of course. I'll definitely take a look at NH RE Mastermind and Boston Investor's, thanks for the recommendations!

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  • Rob McCarthy
    Boston, MA · Member since 2015 · 47 posts · 4 votes
    10y

    Welcome @Justin Stern!

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  • Justin Stern
    OP
    Software Engineer · North Chelmsford, MA · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    10y

    @Rob McCarthy @Account Closed thanks!

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