All Forum Posts by: Christopher Wasowicz

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

@Ron Fletcher, You are correct about State Farm, but my understanding is that State Farm is doing a shuffle. Moving certain jobs to Atlanta, Phoenix, and... Dallas, I think. However, they are also closing small offices around the country and moving those jobs here. The net result will be a slightly smaller employee population, but not a major reduction. Bloomington-Normal has Country Companies, Bridgestone, Nestle, Rivian Automotive just took over the old Mitsubishi plant and a lot of Caterpillar employees live in town as well. We've got two big hospitals, two universities. Its not a hot market by any stretch, but I would say it's trending well or at least stable. Illinois on the other hand, what can I say. The property taxes are brutal and our fiscal situation is a mess. The sky isn't falling, but there are some dark clouds on the horizon.  :-/

@Scott Dixon, ISU is seeing a huge boom in student housing right now. Seems similar to what you saw in Champaign. I was calling around to the local PM firms and they where saying they book a year out. It will probably end up the same way over here too.

In the end, Bloomington and or Illinois might not be where I end up investing (or living). Its just the market I'm familiar with for now.  I've got a buddy that moved to Columbia, MO... I'll probably go visit him some more see what Missouri's got going on :)

Hi everyone,

Wanted to introduce myself. I'm Chris. I learned about BP after my wife suggested a book she saw in her offices Audible account, "The Book on Managing Rental Properties."  I read it and everything in my world suddenly made sense.

A little (or a lot) back story

My family bought a rental when I came to college. Its where my brother and I lived and rented out while attending ISU. My family lives up in Chicago area and after college my brother moved back there. I settled here and offered to manage the property, but really was running it as a hobby/chore for many years, because I had no idea what I was doing. There was always school, relationships, family, and figuring out what I wanted to do for career that kept my focus elsewhere. I've gotten to a place where I can say I am happy with all of those facets of my life, so I turned my attention back to that rental house. It was supposed to be my break into wealth building... what am I doing with this thing?

My wife, who recently fled retail management for real estate, pointed me to "The Book on Managing Rental Properties." (That is just one of a thousand reasons why she is amazing!) While I listened to the book I realized I've literally done or am still doing everything that book said NOT TO DO. I have since started to slowly turn that around. I downloaded the supplements, registered with Bigger Pockets, started listening to the Podcast, started reading BP and other business books. I am all in. Bigger Pockets is showing me what is possible.

Where I'm at now...

I've gotten that rental house to be a little more profitable and a little less hassle, but there's still some work to do. That has gotten me incredibly motivated. I've talked to my brother and parents and we are incorporating into a real estate investment company, into which we will absorb the college rental. We have plans to raise some capital, so we can pick up a few more rentals. My wife and some of her family are incorporating into a PM, real estate and Investment company as well. I am also part of that company and I am getting my home inspectors license, so we can offer that as a service as well. We have a few clients, but mostly we're still only in the "on paper" stage. I should be debt free by mid 2019, except for my house, (but I bought that as a foreclosure and have a big chunk of equity in it). I have written out and have a clear picture of my goals, long and short term. I think I can hit them through BRRR investing. I would like to pick up a quadplex and get it running as my 2019 goal. I very excited to be here, to learn everything I can about REI and start to grow as an investor.

Thanks for reading.

Chris