Hello everyone,

My name is Jessica Boatwright and I am very new to real estate, currently in my education phase. I grew up in Roanoke, Virginia and that is where I am currently. I returned to my hometown a few months ago after living two years in Uganda. My husband, Alec, and I were there serving as Peace Corps Volunteers. Prior to that, we were both living and working corporate jobs in the Washington, DC area.

My journey to find BiggerPockets started in July this year when a Ugandan friend introduced me to Robert Kiyosaki and Rich Dad Poor Dad. I got access to the book and Alec and I finished reading it quickly, realizing that our mindset about money and our future was drastically shifting.

Our main goal in real estate is freedom.

Soon Alec and I will be figuring out where we want to put down roots next. Our approach to the next phase of our life is trying to find a place we think we would love to live and find work from there. We want to apply what we learn about REI to create passive income so that in the future we will not have to be beholden to our jobs.

I am excited to be part of this community. I look forward to learning, sharing, and connecting with you all.

Kindly,

Jessica

Jessica, 

Welcome to the community. My advice would be to do 3 things:

1. Look through the podcast archives for "newbie" or "first deal" episodes and start from there. 

2. Set up "keyword alerts" using words like "roanoke" "first deal" or other markets or strategies you're interested in. Once you educate yourself for a year, pick one strategy (ignore everything else) and stick with it until you get your first deal.

3. Start to get involved with some local real estate groups and look for a mentor who you can help in some way. 

Good luck!

@Kevin Leahy Thank you for the welcome and for the advice!

Hello and welcome. I am also new to the real estate business. I am in the learning phase. I took action about a month ago and just got my first contract signed on my bday Nov. 20, 2019. Looking for an investor attorney or title company in Va. that can service Danville. My advice to you. Learning the business is a continuous adventure. So always learn but you must take action even if you not sure what all the steps are.

Welcome, fellow Virginian! Keep taking action. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were large real estate portfolios

Hi @Jessica Boatwright ! I definitely agree with @Kevin Leahy with respect to keyword alerts. One that I put in was “Peace Corps.” ;-) Welcome home. Happy to help, and feel free to hit me up anytime.

Eric

RPCV, Kenya

2005-2007

@Erica Dixon  Thank you for the welcome message and for the advise about taking action. Congratulations on your first contract!  I want to avoid analysis paralysis so it is great to hear your story: you are also new and that hasn't stopped you. It's nice to connect with you.

@Taylor L. Thank you for the welcome and the words of encouragement! 

@Eric Chase Hi!! I am really happy you had that alert setup! It is awesome to hear from another RPCV on this platform. Proof that the alert setup is very pertinent and I will definitely follow suit.

I'd love to hear more of your story. I'll reach out to you soon.

Best,

Jessica 

Welcome to BP!

@Brent Paul Thanks!

@Jessica Boatwright hi Jessica, welcome to BP! I grew up in Maryland so I have a lot of connections in the DC area. My recommendation would be to "house hack" a property wherever you end up moving. Thats what I did, and it was the easiest way to get started in my opinion. I only put 5% down and almost immediately eliminated our biggest expense at the time (paying rent) which allowed me to save even while gaining experience managing a property/tenants. Would be happy to share my experience sometime! Best of luck, Kyle

@Kyle Deutschmann Hi Kyle, thank you so much for your message! And thank you for the recommendation - house hacking is something that we are very interested in and I'm in the process of learning about it now. I will definitely reach out to you in the future with any questions and also to hear about your experiences. Thanks for connecting with me! All the best, Jessica