There is nothing more intimidating than attempting to jump into the wild, wild west of real estate investing when you are first starting out. Meeting the right people, discovering the right neighborhoods, and more than anything else, getting started was the most difficult part of the whole process. Like most people -- all I wanted is a chance. 

However, I didn't want to ever wait on my chance to come to me. However, my real estate business partner and (conveniently) twin brother @Clay Manship learned at a very young age that opportunities tend to present themselves to those whom relentlessly pursue them. After graduating from college in 2013, Clay and I pledged to work harder than anyone to begin trailblazing our path to financial freedom. Our day started at 6am and ended at midnight every. single. night. We read, researched, conversed, and met every person we possibly could who might rub off some real estate knowledge on virgin minds. 

The common theme I continued to hear from those involved was "house hacking" as an excellent beginner's strategy. For those of you who don't know, house hacking is the idea of purchasing a multi-family property with the idea of living in one unit and letting the other(s) pay your mortgage while you build equity and possibly cash flow. While the idea was intriguing, more than a year went by without any resemblance of a lead to how we could both achieve this together. We continued to live with our parents, save money, pay down our $50,000+ student debt bills and more than anything learn and invest in real estate in our hometown.

However, after 18 months of relentless studying, networking, calling, door-knocking, and driving for dollars everywhere in Indianapolis we identified two duplexes via our newly built network that finally fit our goals (and that we could afford). As luck and humor would both have it, the duplexes were about 10 strides from each other and were exact mirror images of each other... just like my twin and I. My brother took out a mortgage for one of the buildings, and I did the same for the other. We both utilized our saved funds and favorable construction loans from a local community lender and closed on these properties in 2015. We have since rehabbed these properties and leased out the vacant unit in each of our buildings for $1,300 monthly which covers 120% of our monthly PITI payment. House hacking actually does happen. This has allowed us to pursue other projects, joint venture with more veteran investors, and pay off 100% of our student debts, All in all, our company Mainstay Property Group has transacted 50+ deals and acquired 10 units for our personal portfolio in our first fully operation year as a real estate investment firm. My brother has quit his full-time job and now invests full-time while I partner with a local real estate developer to further our knowledge in the commercial realm.

"Good things happen to those who wait" is now one of my least favorite musings. Good things happen to those who work their *** off. Good things happen to those who reject the status quo. 

I am in great hopes that my success story will not come across as pompous or conceited for those who are struggling to find their start, but as motivation that what my brother and I did can happen to anyone. Newbies! Never stop networking, moving, or learning. Opportunity is everywhere.