A Little About Me

To start off with, I guess I should post some basics about myself and my situation. My name is Tom and I live in a small north Florida town with my wife Amy and our 2 sons Bennett, almost 4, and Elliott, almost 2. We live a pretty good life, my wife is a teacher whom is staying home with our boys for a few more years before she gets back into the class room. I am an a field engineer for a power company based in our small town. We own our own home on 20 acres of land and really enjoy the country life, though sometimes we wish we were a little closer to town and lived on a paved road. First world problems I guess. 

So why real estate you might ask? Well, as I stated we live pretty typical upper middle class lives though things are a bit tight since Amy started staying home with the boys, but we really don't want for much. We get all of our "needs" and some of our "wants" so I can't complain too much. I am really the driving force wanting to get into real estate, I am "happy" with my job, in the sense that I go and they pay me and that makes me happy. When I went to school for engineering I really just knew I liked to fix stuff and build things so it was a pretty good fit. Now that I am in the corporate world, I see the limitations of the 9 to 5 type of job. Yes I get paid well for what I do and I have some room for advancement, but will ultimately work for 30 years toward a comfortable (i.e. boring) retirement. I see the wonders the world has to offer and I see now that I want to get out and experience the world and share that experience with my family. I want to travel with them and show them the world before they and I are too old to get anything out of it. So with this in mind I am beginning my excursion into the world of real estate with the goal to become financially independent and able to quit my "day job" and transition into a full time real estate investor.

Oh, I forgot to mention how I want to travel the world with the family. I want to move the family onto one of these and cruise the world. 

So this is the destination, though I expect the journey will be just as, if not more, rewarding.