Our first real estate purchase was a late 1800s home in Florida. We were young. I sold my truck for the downpayment. When I showed the home to my father, he sighed and said "Your should bulldoze it and start from scratch." I couldn't. It was $26,000 and I had given up the lease on my apartment.
Before the term hacking was around, we called it bootstrapping. My new bride and I lived in and remodeled the house at the same time. She is fond of saying that the only thing that held the house together in the early days was paint. Did I mention it was Florida and termites eat all year round in Florida?
We fixed it. We sold it and we had our first significant cash nest egg for the future. We visited the house last year, which was 26 years after we sold it. It's still standing and looks great.
A lot changes in 26 years: kids, moving, more moving, and lots of real estate purchases along the way. The volume builds over time and we are around 250 deals completed since that first Florida home.
We learned a lot. We made some mistakes and all along the way, we wished there was a way to share the journey. Now there is. We want to share with other real estate investors and we want you to share with us.
Be kind, be courteous and give us your best and worst experiences in real estate investing.