My Intro 1.5 years later!
This is long overdue but I decided to post an introduction since I have big goals this year and could use some help!
My very first investment was the purchase of my primary home in 2011... I didn't know it at the time, but I was a natural house hacker! I had a roommate to pay half the mortgage then realized how great it was and took another one in to pay all my mortgage :) Of course this is where I initially got the "bug" but I didn't quite have the investor mentality. It gained equity and I sold that house in 2014 (looking back I wish I would have kept it as a rental bc it's worth way more than I sold it for now!!) and upgraded to a better neighborhood.
I was getting antsy not doing anything real estate related for almost 3 years so I refinanced my primary home in January 2017 and got $30k cash out for my first official rental (it was turn key). It has been rented by the same renter and is exceeding the 1% rule - which I had never heard of when purchasing so that was a bit of luck. After purchasing the property through a "retail" realtor, I thought it was silly not having my license so I took classes at the beginning of the year and was debating whether or not to quit my job since it was a steady income. I got my license in March and had a client lined up plus I hated my job so I took a leap of faith. Looking back, I wish I would have got one more loan before quitting, but hindsight is 20/20...
My husband came around the bend and realized this real estate thing wasn't so bad so he jumped on board with my idea to try a flip in July of 2017. My brother partnered with the cash and we jumped in with both feet! We didn't make it big on that flip (13% ROI / 2 wasn't a ton) but we had fun and learned a lot doing it!! Since then we purchased 2 more houses and an antique shop (true entrepreneurial spirits :) with my brother and another rental with a back house on our own (back has long term tenant and front was air bnb'd over the holidays).
This year, my goal is to sell our primary house and move into our house with a back house so I can house hack once again and start growing exponentially on our rentals. I'd like to BRRRR the primary house we purchase later in the year and use the money we get out of that for additional BRRRR opportunities (at least 4 more doors). With my brother, we are planning to complete at least 4 flips. The rate of appreciation and growth in San Antonio has been great so we are really looking forward to buying more.
Our biggest challenge has been finding deals (partially bc we are extreme cheapskates) so I am looking for wholesalers to help us find off market deals and network with lenders because we may give hard money a shot for the first time! I have heard the seasoning period is tough to get around so also looking for some creative ideas on the refinancing part of the BRR.
I love the BP community and am meeting great people every day on this platform so big shout out to @Joshua Dorkin for starting it and @Brandon Turner plus @David Greene for the very educational and sometimes corny but always funny podcasts. 2019 is going to be the best year yet!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it :)