Dana G. Neilson

This section of any profile is the reason that I have been putting off completing this part of the profile. I would rather have a bunch of options to check off rather than having to come up with some clever way to explain who I am, knowing that if I misspell a word now, my whole career as a Real Estate Investor will be tarnished. That is a lot of pressure, especially for someone like me. But I guess that is why this section is here so I can explain myself how I see fit. I would rather have a whiteboard with fresh markers because I don’t really think linearly, it is much easier for me to explain intangible concepts, such as myself, in four dimensions. Anyway, until I become a Pro member, to upload a video introduction, I will say that I am recently retired from the US Army, recent as in July 2015. I needed some decompression time and really time to adjust to civilian life and mostly the civilian lifestyle. Uncle Sam got me fresh out of High School, most days I loved what I did. I started out as a helicopter engine mechanic up in Fairbanks, AK. Then switched to Avionics (control systems for flying vehicles) then became a Combat Engineer, more demolishing than building but I’ve built a lot of things, usually of my own design. Then when I was tired of screwing around I tried out to become a Green Beret, you know US Army Special Forces, the ones before the US Navy Seals. I became a Special Forces Medic, partly by choice but primarily because of outrageously high score in one of the sections of the ASVAB test (you should google that to see how the test is broken down, but see if you could find the one they gave in 1986, the current ones might have easier questions). I won’t get into what I did as a Green Beret Medic, but after eight years on an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA/A-Team) I realize I had a choice, gain a little more seniority as Medic and get stuck behind a desk or become a Special Forces Warrant Officer and not only do I get to stay on an ODA for many more years but I get to mentor each guy on the team because I’ve been around long enough to know each team position. That’s why the Warrant Officer slot on the team was developed. Anyway, that’s where I’m coming from career-wise. I live in Golden, CO with my loving/lovely wife, Laura, she has mad skills in so many things, hence my marrying her. You’ll meet her as well. I look forward to this. Thank you for reading my about me. Experience: I have quite a bit of experience at several facets of Real Estate but no experience in actual Real Estate Investing. I have done portions of many property rehabilitations, just not with the end goal of me making money. I am one of those that can’t say no, and especially when I know that repairs, like on a home, are critical and I am usually the only one around who knows how to fix the problem. That’s not boasting, it’s just the situation I generally find myself. I love the saying that if you are the smartest guy in the room, then you’re in the wrong room, well thank you BiggerPockets for creating this room so I can be the dumbest guy. I look forward to swapping stories, either digitally or in real life, with many awesome people in this forum. Thanks for reading this and I appreciate each of your willingness to help others. I started working on houses near Poughkeepsie, New York helping rehabilitate my grandmother’s house that she grew up in. It was a typical, beautiful Victorian where the people who built them must have been very Elvish (slender, nimble and not afraid of heights) because the stairs were narrow and steep and the ceilings were tall, of course I was only 12 and not fully grown (vertically and mid-sectionally) but I fell in love with the art of modernistic transformation. Those skills I learned while doing that rehab and the other skills a farm boy normally learns, helped me throughout my 27 years in the US Army, with the past 18 years in Special Forces. What most people don’t know that before the Global War on Terrorism, Green Berets went to foreign countries to build schools, clinics, water wells and so many other projects that fit effortlessly well with what I expect to be doing now under the title of a Real Estate Investor. I look forwarding to meeting all of you throughout our years of prosperous endeavors. Real Estate Goals: Our goal is to help people; we plan on doing this with more vigor because we believe that sometimes good intentions like defending our country lead to terrible consequences. Dana has personally had to deal with all of the tragedies associated with combat having just retired after 27 years in the US Army, most of that in 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne); as a Special Forces Medic and then retiring as a SF Warrant Officer. Our overall business concept is to either find a flip-worthy house for mobility/sensory disabled Veterans, to save them money by converting the house at the point of rehab. Or we seek out specific buyers for the project after we have made critical changes to the house based on Laura’s 25 years of nursing experience, specializing in caring for those how require extra support. If one of our homes is for our primary focus group, the family of a deceased service member, then not many, if any modifications will be done. All of our properties will be equipped with accessories that we make sure every one of our houses possess before we sell it, that is our trademark. So, you’ll have to come see one for yourself to realize how we excel at helping people. The bottom-line is that we are not using REI (Real Estate Investing) as a tool to create financial wealth for us but to share the wealth with those who deserve it.  Currently Seeking: I am currently seeking local, or physical, mentors. I have a couple of mentors that are on the interwebs but having a mentor or two to actually exchange ideas would be wonderful. Oh yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I am, also, currently seeking funding. I am developing packages