Hello BiggerPockets, my name is Ben Ervin and I wanted to stop by to introduce myself. I guess hearing instruction from Brandon and Josh time and again on the podcasts to use the New Member Intro forum finally struck a chord with me. I have been leveraging BP as a major resource for a while now and have gained an exceptional amount of knowledge as a result; for that, I would like to thank the community. That said, I felt it was time to join the discussion as I am getting closer to taking the plunge on my first deal.

I am 25 years old, married and a father of three. My family is my number one motivation in life, and my near-obsessive desire to practice entrepreneurship is a close second. I have ambitious long-term goals for real estate involving lifestyle growth as well as financial, but my primary near-term goal is to close on my first investment property by the end of 2017.

Without getting into too much detail, my strategy involves flipping single family homes in the Pensacola area (Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties) to raise capital and generate profits to reinvest, facilitating the development and growth of a long-term rental portfolio.

I look forward to meeting and interacting with you all here on BP going forward.

@Benjamin Ervin Welcome to BP, a great place to hang out. Make sure you augment what you learn out here with what you can learn first hand in your community from other investors at the local REIA events or even landlording events. So many good people with so much to share with you.

Your concept seems sound, lots of SFRs in your area and lots of demand as the area continues to grow. I could not believe how 30A had grown in a short time, last time I was there. Best of luck on closing on a deal by the end of the year! 

Thanks, @Jack Bobeck .  I will be attending my first local event in 2 weeks and am looking forward to learning and networking with some successful investors in my area.  The NW Florida area has really seen a lot of growth. 

Jax is a great market, too.  I have a brother who just graduated from UNF and got a job in the mortgage department with Merrill Lynch there.  I've been over several times to visit him and it really seems like a larger Pensacola. 

Hello @Benjamin Ervin , welcome to BiggerPockets! It is great to have you and please feel free to jump in the community - there are certainly great people around here!

Welcome! My strategy is very similar to yours. Flips for capital to move into income producing rentals. If you don't mind my asking how are you looking at funding? There's my current roadblock.

Thanks for the warm welcome, @Dave Visaya .

@Elizabeth Connelly , I will be using cash for my first deal. I don’t intend to use this method going forward, but I am currently looking to get just one property under contract to rehab. As I continue to scale, I plan to leverage OPM. 

Hey there Ben,

I just recently moved to Pensacola. I too am looking at buying my first property in the next few months, but rather it will be a home for me to live in and house-hack. I'm in the Navy and have a few other flight student friends who are willing to rent out bedrooms from me. 

I'm actually in the process of analyzing Escambia county, taking price growth, average rental rates, median incomes etc. If you're interested I'll share the info I get when I'm done. 

Welcome @Benjamin Ervin , your motivations are awesome!! The new member introduction forum is pretty awesome when you are trying to expand your community.

@John Zuercher , That's terrific.  I wish I had the thought to house hack when I was first getting started in my career.  Are you stationed onboard NAS Pensacola?  I work on base.  I'd love to see what type of analysis you're doing on the market.  I've lived in the area my entire life, so I have the benefit of understanding the area pretty well.  I am currently looking at properties in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.  Right now, I am analyzing a property in Pace that goes to auction this weekend.

@Matt Motil , thanks, 3 little kids make it quite easy to find motivation!  I've benefitted from the community for a while now just through reading and educating myself via forums, podcasts, and blog posts but I am hoping that getting more engaged on BP will help even more.   

@Benjamin Ervin Welcome to the BP community! I understand how you feel; entrepreneurship is beautiful! I am new as well and just closed on my first deal. I encourage you to network as much as you can here on BP and locally in your area. Reach out to the BP community when you need help or get stuck; people here are very willing to help those that are new. Also, always make sure to be actively engaged in finding deals and to act when a deal is found.

Good luck and may your goals come to fruition!

@Benjamin Ervin I'm stationed at the NAS, but live right outside the back gate in a rental house with the same friends who will eventually be renting from me! 

As for my analysis, it's a very broad macro view of Escambia and how the rental market operates in different neighborhoods. I'll be sure to start a thread on here once I'm satisfied with my preliminary findings. 

@Jared McNeel , Thanks for jumping in.  I am actively engaged in finding deals now.  I am analyzing deals and doing walkthroughs on properties pretty much every other day.  Going forward I will look to BP on how to really get a good marketing campaign off the ground, but hope to put some money in the bank off the first flip in order to establish a marketing campaign the right way.

@John Zuercher Awesome.  As close as we are, we should hook up sometime and talk.  Are you going to the Bay Center on the 14th for the Pensacola Investors Guild (P.I.G.) event?  Here's a link for more info:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/503030-commercial-real-estate-for-beginners?page=1#p3085291

@Benjamin Ervin thanks for the heads up on that event! As of now I'm free on the 14th, and it sounds like a great experience. Maybe we can get some coffee before the event starts. I'll shoot you my contact info via PM. 

@Benjamin Ervin , 25 with 3 kids wow.  You have your hands full already!  Welcome to BP, we invest in your area as well so let me know if we can help at all.  Good luck getting going and I'm sure I will see you at one of the meetups eventually!

@William Allen , thanks for reaching out.  I notice you're a wholesaler in the area.  We might be able to help each other out sooner than later.  I'll send you a PM.