It all started with a road trip. Circa 2010, Noah and I were headed to Florida, and he had convinced me to read a book to him- out loud- the whole way. Noah’s pick was “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” This road trip led us to start a different adventure, taking classes all over the United States for the next two years and starting to buy foreclosures.
For me, I came from the background that everyone told me to go to school, get good grades, so that you can get a good job working for someone else. And that is what I did, no questions asked. I became a teacher and started my first job salaried at $32,500. I quickly came to realize that I would not be able to do all the things I had wanted with this level of income. At this point in my life, I had grown to know that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. The appeal of real estate to us was that it was a physical investment we could see, fix up, and share with other families who would rent or buy.
I had also grown up being told that rich people got rich by doing bad things- that money essentially equated to evil. Going after what you love was better than going after the money. I did what I loved, but I loved to do more things than just my job- and I couldn’t satisfy those other ambitions by teaching.
Initially, we had gone to our local bank and took a risk by signing on the dotted line for a couple foreclosures. From there, we began with residential rentals and expanded into commercial rentals. For us, Noah’s background as a general contractor gave us a sense of security in the risks we took doing fix-and-flips. For you, our advice would be to do your research and decide if this is the right path for you. If you understand the basics of how a property runs, you can hire everything else out. It’s not as hard as it sounds, especially if you get the ball rolling by connecting with others in your area who are already involved in real estate and rentals.
In the wise words of Noah, “Always ask the bank for their money.” You shouldn’t have to use your own money set aside to get started. Instead, establish a relationship with your bank when you are buying property and ask for the money you need to get started at the same time. Banks are the cheapest place to get money, and community banks will oftentimes allow you to get started with no money down.
All in all, real estate investing has been the strategy for us to gain our financial freedom and start enjoying all the things we love in life. I am very grateful that our road trip turned into an even bigger adventure. Start small, and dream big.
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