All Forum Posts by: Lupe Rodriguez

I'm interested. I'm just getting started and have a relatively small amount of investable cash. What were you thinking?

Originally posted by @John Van Uytven:

@Lupe Rodriguez

I taught ESL in Korea for 5 years as well.

If I could go back, I would invest in Notes. that way I could invest anywhere and live anywhere.

If I had started note investing before I left Korea, I probably would still be traveling the world.

 Tell me more about notes...

Following. I live in the North Bay (Santa Rosa), similar situation, would also like to know about Residential Multis in East Texas (Austin/San Antonio/Dallas).

Also, in response to the title of your post, what you should do is fly to a country where you’re legally allowed to drink, and buy yourself a beer, you’ve earned it.

A lot of your questions are covered in the podcasts and the ultimate beginners guide offered here (I think it’s free still). As far as legal and tax knowledge (mind you, knowledge not advice, get a lawyer and a CPA for that) is a book in the Rich Dad Poor Dad universe called Loopholes of Real Estate. It’s dense enough to substitute for enriched uranium in a nuclear power plants, but there’s a lot of good info in there. I learned so much about the technical aspects of real estate. Best part, the audiobook was free from my local library (that’s how I found it)

Hello all!! I’m an investor from CA looking to get to know southeast Texas better. If anyone wants to talk neighborhoods or has a deal that needs a home, shoot me a message.

Originally posted by @Jill DeWit:

@Lupe Rodriguez hello and welcome to BiggerPockets!

You stumbled upon one of the best real estate investing sites on the internet!

Bigger Pockets is the best way to go when reaching out to experienced investors and getting deals done the right way.
Happy to help in any way I can. Feel free to PM me at your convenience.

Congratulations, Lupe, and I wish you all the best.

 Thanks!

Originally posted by @Lana Lee:

Having a down payment money is great but what is your credit like and what is your mortgage payment ability, what is your debt to income ratio? Lenders usually require to have stable job for at least 2 years in order to give a loan. You can always get a partner who can give you what you are lacking. But you would have to put responsibilities of each of you on the paper, preferably with the help of a lawer.

Credit’s good, I average 40k a year and hustle as needed to keep it up there. Not much in the way of expenses and can easily make a mortgage payment anywhere but California (where I live). The job would be an issue after I move. 

34 year old that’s been lots of places and done lots of things. I’ve lived in Korea twice for a total of almost six years, taught English as a Second Language, served in the Marines as a Supply Administration Clerk, and had a whole mess of odd/dirty jobs in the States and Canada. For now I substitute teach and moonlight as a prep cook. Unfortunately, there’s a lack of financial stability that goes with moving around a lot and doing a lot of different things. At the same time It’s hard for me to settle down. The idea of a boring 9-5 scares me just as much as the idea of being without money. Well, as I get older, more and more I catch myself checking my closet at night for signs of the broke-y man. I won’t always be healthy enough to earn my way out of a situation. At the same time, I won’t stop being me, plain and simple. I NEED a source of income that lets me keep living the way I’m going to live. Recently I’ve been given a great opportunity in the form of a down payment. I want this to be a springboard into the future, not a crutch, or worse, a hobble. The last thing I want to do is park it in some house I’ll feel obligated to live in. So! The idea is to own enough rental property to support me when I need the extra help, fund my retirement, keep my parents healthy, and take care of my possible future family. I plan to house-hack my way through my first four residential multi-family properties, then trade up to a commercial apartment. Maybe rinse/repeat the process until I’m where I need to be, establishing and scaling systems as needed. Right now I’m in a weird place. I’m hiding in my cocoon, transforming into a beautiful RE Investor, learning all I can. But I’m also scared of blowing it all. I only have one shot at this. No do overs. This is the stage where I face the greatest risk of being stillborn. I want to begin but I know I’m not ready. Too long without action and I’ll lose interest. At the same time I don’t know when I’ll be ready. Also too long in this cocoon and I might get comfy arm chair investing. I’m taking real estate classes and have attended one REI meetup. I’m practicing pricing things here and there. I have rough ideas for my goals and will write them down this week. I know my ‘why’. I don’t know the how or where. All the things I want to know seem to be things based on experience i.e. recognizing good contractors and being able to look at a property and size it up. I’m also reluctant to invest here in CA. TX, OH, PA, MD, WY and MN all look good, but nothing yet makes one better than the other. What I need to do next is write out my goals, plan and exit strategy. I also need to get through my 10kth number crunch so I can work faster and start to recognize trends. I also need to learn about how to spot house problems and figure out how much fixing it would cost. I will put together a list of 20 cities (two in CA, three for each of the other listed states) and try and try to rank them in a wish list, and work the top three. That should focus my number crunching practice.