Scott Newton

Hello from Sunny Southern California! Got started in my real estate investing career a little late in life, out of necessity, and as a result of internal reflection following a number of life changes over the past few years. I come from a family that owned a number of different property types over the years; a duplex with an ocean view in Laguna Beach, California; a 3 BR 3 BA home in San Marino, CA; a 2BR home with 3 attached studio apartments in Hollywood, CA; a two suite medical building in Northridge, CA; a 240 acre ranch parcel in Northern San Diego County, CA; and most recently, a 4 BR 2.5 BA SFR in Northridge, CA. All were owned free and clear……. I watched as a teenager and later as a young adult as each of these properties was sold off by my family, beginning in 1989 and continuing until the last property was gone in 2013. I was one of those people who thought “those properties will be there for me someday”, as I focused on my career and raising my family…… Fast Forward to the present. A recent job reassignment at my company resulted in a significant amount of internal reflection, forcing me to seriously re-think my VERY passive approach to holding onto and using real estate. What was I thinking as I stood idly and watched my family liquidate these assets? Why do I find myself browsing Realtor.com’s app and Zillow’s app on my iPad as a passtime? Deep down, I’ve always had an affinity for real estate, and now is the time for me to do something about it with respect to my own future and long-term financial stability. The old family properties are now gone: Time to focus on the here and now with an eye toward the future. I discovered Bigger Pockets in November of 2016 during a Google search for “best business entity for real estate investing”. The past several months have been filled with podcasts, reading the success story threads, reading recommended books, and a lot of the other things members here have done to educate themselves. Since that time, I spent several months educating myself in many aspects of real estate investing and settled upon participating passively in multi-family, value-add syndication deals. To date, I have invested in 3 partnerships, as well as a number of 1st Trust Deed Loans.