I'm new to the real estate game, but I've decided that being a full-time landlord is something that I would like to pursue. I've worked W-2 jobs my whole life, but I am now missing out on a great deal of my kids childhood due to the set-in-stone hours at my current job. I am not opposed to 60 hour weeks, as long as I can move those hours around as needed (emergencies happen, but I feel like I'm doing it wrong if I can't plan 95% of my time).

So here's the bright eyed, bushy tailed plan of a newbie:

1. My credit is in the tank from supporting my wife through pharmacy school. She graduates next summer, and I don't foresee any further damage coming, which should get me back up to a bank-friendly level by next summer or fall.

2. I've been reading/pod casting/asking around for about 1.5 months and plan to continue to networking and researching until I'm lender friendly. I've begun analyzing properties, however I haven't found anything that screams "great deal!" yet.

3. I live in Lexington, KY, which is a college town. I very much like the idea of renting to students. Maybe I'm cold-hearted, but I'm OK charging $500 in security deposits from each of 4 students in a 4 bed 2 bath house (my wife was in such an arrangement) while requiring parental co-signatures from renters. Maybe they'll trash the place, but I can replace the carpet and get the whole place repainted if needed without touching cash flow.

4. There are a ton of small commercial properties here, many of them owned by elderly investors who are looking to get out of the game in the next few years. My current end game is to start picking up 5-10 unit apartments and consolidating my portfolio out of single-family homes and into commercial properties. I only require 40 units to replace my current income, and that doesn't account for any appreciation.

I know for a fact that I'm being naive. I don't know the cap rate on student apartments. I don't have a network of contractors to pull from when needed. And although my wife will be a pharmacist, I won't have a huge amount of seed money to throw at this (student loans are a killer). However, I have 9-12 months to figure all that out.

I'm glad I found BP and hope I can get to know all of you a little better in the coming months!

-Mike Rosine

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