Good Morning,

My name is Scott Simmons. I am 27 years old living in Austin, Texas. We are currently living west of Austin in Bee Cave, Texas in an apartment and would love to have an equity growing asset in the next 12 months.

A little about me - I graduated Iowa State University with a Bachelor's in Finance. After college I was introduced to high ticket sales and spent two years at selling private aircraft in the mid-sector market throughout Texas and Louisiana. This was an incredible opportunity that taught me a lot, and showed me the power of RE investing when speaking with some of our customers. January 2019 I jumped ship and started my own Creative Studio in Austin, TX after realizing I had a knack for video production and photography. I am a one man shop supporting businesses and brands with photo / video content - clients range from Instagram influencers, multi-family and commercial property developers, residential real estate agents/brokers, restaurants and other small business around the area. I am currently working to expand the business into an educational platform to help teach others the power of creative.

While doing so, I would like to start spending my free time learning about RE investing. Owning my own business, as I'm sure many of you know, means I am bootstrapping and frugal with my earnings as I re-invest in the business. College put me in a lot of debt and I am looking to pay off my student debt through my effort in my own business, future businesses and real estate.

I am not in a place financially to start investing yet - I am a little confused and nervous when it comes to different loan strategies since I am in almost 6-figure debt - but I am certainly ready to start allocating my free-time each day to learning about RE investing and working my way to being debt free and further financially free so I can spend time with my family, travel and give back to communities and invest in businesses I believe will help improve our lives.

Currently my long-term goal would be to continue building my creative business while starting to purchase single family homes - or multi-family if it makes more sense economically in Austin - living in the first, growing profits, start renting and repeat. With that said, I am open to all strategies because I don't believe it's a one size fits all for all or in every market. 

Thank you all in advance for welcoming me and supporting. I will do my best to be a positive light on the forum as well as educate others while I learn.

Cheers,

Scott

Hi Scott,

Welcome to BP. That's a great story. I really relate to the creative side of your story because I'm a creative person myself (graphic designer, singer/songwriter). REI is something that can help support creative endeavors. I'm also an entrepreneur like you. I haven't worked for anyone else in many years. My first business was a house cleaning business. Now I own and manage a real estate services website and teach life coaching.

We all have a story to tell. Sometimes we tell the story of what we perceive to be our limitations. Maybe instead of telling yourself and the world the story that you can't invest yet because you have too much debt, tell yourself the story that investing is what will help get you out of debt. A smart investor's goal is always to use other people's money anyway, even when you have money.

This  is where learning the art of creative financing could change your life. There are many ways to use other people's money to start investing and making money. You could start with bird-dogging/wholesaling, letting another investor have the deal for a fee so now he is the one getting funding for it. You could do a seller finance with a motivated seller. You could partner with a private money partner so they fund the deal while you do the work. And there are so many other ways to fund deals without using your own money or getting a loan and going further into debt.

The point is, don't make your investing dream something that is out there in the future. Start right now today by owning that you are an investor now, by building a team of agents, attorney's, title co's, contractors and other investors to support you, by finding and analyzing properties and all the while asking tons of questions to the BP community to help you with these things and the questions that come up along the way. Because doing is the fastest way to REALLY learn.

If you want to learn more about creative financing strategies like these ask about them in this thread and I will gladly answer you. And others will contribute their ideas as well.

Have you thought about starting out with bird-dogging or wholesaling? What do you know about those strategies? What questions do you have about them or about seller financing or partnering with someone else who has money?

Hi Scott, 

I live in Hutto, TX and I am beginning to get into wholesaling properties. I would love to chat with you and try to get some real estate deals together. Wholesaling is a very interesting process, where you don't need money to close a deal. I also do not have a lot of money saved, I am also paying off debt, and I have a goal of owning over 1000 units in multi-family homes. I also am in a mentorship with Grant Cardone so I am building my networking. If you are interested in reaching out to me or talking, just let me know. 

Hope to hear from you soon

Jon

@Scott Simmons it's never too early to talk to a lender and see what you have to do to buy! Typically they want to see two years of tax returns for self employed.