Aloha everyone! I was inspired today to start blogging about our investing game. Our passion toward the FIRE movement. It's an acronym for Financial Independence Retire Entrepreneur/Early. A quick back story...Scottie and I didn't have a lot growing up. We both came from single parent homes. My mom raised both my brothers and I. We were on welfare, section 8 and food stamps. I had a rough life not having a lot and thought with a little mindset. Scottie had a hard life too, losing his mom to breast cancer at the early age of 4. His dad had to care for him and his brothers.
Flash forward Scottie and I met in 2005 in Hawaii and got married in Oakland, CA. We had a wedding at the courthouse because it was so spontaneous. We got married after only knowing each other for two months, lol. I love telling our story and seeing everyones reaction because who does that? Lol! Scottie was headed on his first deployment so we decided to get hitched before he left. We didn't have much. We slept on an air mattress for like 4 months before we were able to afford a used bed, lol. Our life was crazy, we seriously didn't have anything. We eventually incurred credit card debt, school loans for me and car payments. We lived that boujee life style and we spent more than we made.
In 2013 when Scott got out the Marine Corps we noticed we were in the hole $104,000. Talk about fml! We we're drained by consumer debt and wanted to do better. We didn't know any better. We had to seriously learn how to budget and adjust to the real world outside of the military. Scottie being the smarty pants one, listened to Dave Ramsey and its where he learned to love and learn about finances. We went after our debt like a gazelle and paid off $104,000 in 4 years by learning to budget, not going out to eat as much, saying no to outings, vacationing less, trading in our cars and got cars we could pay out right with cash. We can officially say we are debt free from bad debt. However, we do have real estate to our names, but we consider that as good debt.
After reading Rich Dad Poor Dad it was game over from there. We changed our mindsets and now we are learning how to build passive income. Our portfolio includes a townhome which is in the process of being renovated and we are currently undecided if we should sell or rent. I can't wait to show pics and blog about our process because we did it all wrong and did a lot of mistakes, lol. Next we have a Residential Care Facility that we partnered with another family. We are in the home stretch of being licensed and currently renting it out to help pay for the mortgage. Third is the home we bought that we live in currently. Hoping to fix it up and sell it in a few years to avoid capital gains taxes. My goal for this blog is to document our investments and learn along the way as we grow in this field and to help others not make the same mistakes we did, haha!
We are members of Del Womsley's Lifestyles Unlimited program, members of Investment Club of America and also members of the Bigger Pockets (BP) Community. I listen to the BP podcast almost everyday and learned so much. I got excited hearing the podcast with investor Alex because he's local in Las Vegas. He invests in a different state but lives here. I decided to hit him up on his website brokeisachoice.com and he invited Scottie and I to a little meet-up he holds once a month.
So we went today and I was so inspired to be around others who were hungry in this field. It was nice to learn about everyone and their portfolio stories. There was about 10 of us and I was the only female, lol. But I loved the meeting because it was super chill. We talked real estate and also joked around too. I felt really comfortable. But I also felt nervous because I'm in between and introvert and extrovert. This was actually our first time going out to network in this field. Plus, meeting on a Sunday morning was hard cuz I like to sleep in and we had church, but I ended up going to the noon service. Scottie went to the meeting straight from work. Which, ironically was his last shift working graveyard, he's a murse for a CMU unit at a local hospital here in Vegas. We almost didn't make the meeting but Scottie and I are eager and willing to learn.
Now don't get me wrong, I love what I do and work that 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. job and feel really blessed to work for the amazing company that saved my life... Zappos. But I am learning to play with FIRE to be able to have security for retirement. Real estate investing is a passion and hobby that Scottie and I love to learn and grow into.
Alex is looking to create more video content and I offered to help since I love to video and edit. It is a win win situation, I get to learn from an expert and utilize my video skills. He also inspired me to keep content going on my blog. So here we go. I will be blogging as much as I can to share our real estate journey. Hope you guys enjoy!
Current Portfolio as of Nov. 2018:
1 townhome
1 soon to be Residential Assisted Living Home
1 current single family home we live in (planning to sell after we fix it up)
Goal Portfolio:
One year goal: Invest in other states and BRRRR (A Bigger Pockets acronym for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refi, Repeat)
Two year goal: House Hack our next property
Three year goal: Own a Multi-Family 4-Plex
