Careers Thread

[MR E30 325is]

How did you start in RE investing? Did your first property cash flow or was there a ramp up?

Asking for a friend ;)



Ezekiel 25:17

House hacked (live with roommates) on my first 3/2. Made $77 dollars a month, and lived for free. So it 'cash flowed' in a sense, but it came with a few sacrifices (living with others).

Repeat this same strategy again at the next house.

After that, it was easy. The machine propels itself (while maintaining discipline of course, i.e. no money comes out of the business for personal use, yet, while W2 income still readily flow in)

So yes, and no, kind of.

But I wont attempt to bullshit you. I am incredibly lucky, and happen to be around the right people, at the right time, all while having the ability to accept all of the responsibility that I can find.

Reasons why my results are not typical (in an effort to provide a realistic view of the situation):

- $415,000 in free loans, through the VA, since I am a USMC Veteran. That means my first two properties were purchased with zero down (minus some appraisal, termite inspection, etc. fees). This is huge, as the first couple are by far the hardest. And this lends itself to the next advantage.
- Having no issue buying the worst condition properties on the market. No money down on the loan meant that I had money to repair all issues, even doing stud out remodels. It helps that I have been doing construction related tasks with my father since I was ~6 yrs old. This too is huge, as serious equity is created almost immediately. This point is also fortified by the next point.
- Free stuff. A lot of free stuff. Like, seriously, a lot of free stuff. My current mentor is a retired GC, with tens and tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools. Beam saw? check. Hardiplank shears? check. Magnesium concrete float? check. The list goes on and on. And on. And on. And he is still connected with working GC's, which means free leftover materials from their builds. Oh, and he has probably performed over $50,000 in labor for hardly anything (a few vacations mostly). He is very selfless, and makes his own passive income from a lifetime of hard work. This point is HUGE. This means that these less than ideal properties I buy can be fixed up for a tiny, tiny fraction of what it cost an unskilled individual without these types of connections.
- Wife who is independently successful (business owner), who also understands the importance of making money while you sleep. This means a lot of my income can go towards reinvesting/saving. But it means that we spent every evening reading books, doing chores, watering the garden, or talking to each other as opposed to going out to eat, taking vacations, buying things, etc.

So yeah, kind of a spewing vomit of info, but that's how lucky I have been.

[Powling]

How did you start in RE investing? Did your first property cash flow or was there a ramp up?

Asking for a friend ;)



Ezekiel 25:17

^^^RT also asking for a friend...

[majdomo]

Real estate investments (long-term buy and hold rentals) is my 'passive' career, as most of the time it takes little time/energy, but pays much better than the engineering gig.

How did you start in RE investing? Did your first property cash flow or was there a ramp up?

Asking for a friend ;)



Ezekiel 25:17

[MR E30 325is]

Great thread idea! It's cool to get a glimpse of what people do here, especially for the OG's and frequent posters of R3v.

My career started out back in 2004, at the age of 16, though I didn't know it at the time.

Started out as a draftsmen (using AutoCAD) for a machine shop in central Phoenix, then moved to an electrical engineering company in north Phoenix as a draftsmen (also using AutoCAD).

Did that for a number of years, served in the USMC, then obtained degrees in ME and Mathematics.

Graduated, found a job in town doing structural design, but worked for a terrible company. Big fan of working on my own, and I could do both parts of the job proficiently (drafting and engineering, which is rare).

So I found a financial partner (who constructs the things I engineer, who I met through previous terrible job) and became employee #1 at my engineering firm. I consider this my 'active' career, as I do it almost everyday.

Real estate investments (long-term buy and hold rentals) is my 'passive' career, as most of the time it takes little time/energy, but pays much better than the engineering gig.

Future involves firm expansion and the acquisition of more rentals. Will most likely pursue a M.Eng with an emphasis in SE in the next ~5 years.

[Haystack]

Got my CDL many many years ago, moved to the cannabis center of Northern California with a clean drug test and a CDL. Started delivering beer for a few years, then selling beer for a few years, now I'm inventory control and sales coordinator for a beverage distributor.

It's slowly sucking my soul out of my body, and I'm actively looking for a new job. I don't want to start driving again, but there's not much up here. Just a high school education and a lot of years of experience.

[dsobering47]

[kronus]

went to school to get a CS degree, did a couple internships, moved to SF for a proper software job after graduating. After five years doing full-stack and performance work at a big website you've used, I jumped ship to a b2g startup in the GIS/data visualization space, and am now the resident grumpy senior engineer there.

[majdomo]

Currently wavering between Ui/Ux design (read: Tech $$$) or stay in the realm of designing tangible things...

Make money in tech while you can but keep the physical skills updated... I bet it’s hard to find someone who can do both.




Ezekiel 25:17

[wworm]

Was a carpenter/contractor's apprentice out of high school and in between summers during college. Studied Industrial Design and then apprenticed at two different Porsche shops for a year before realizing I'd never pay off my loans as a mechanic while living in the Bay Area. Found a job as a polisher at a sculpture fabrication firm and told my boss I was going to quit 6 months later to find a design job and he moved me into the design dept. So now I make spreadsheets and schedules and sometimes get to play in CAD and tell fabricators what to build.

Currently wavering between Ui/Ux design (read: Tech $$$) or stay in the realm of designing tangible things...

[Melon]

grew up on a farm,

a couple years in h/s as a line cook/dishwasher

spent about a decade building roads, and municipal water/sewer systems with some odd ball demolition, environmental reclamation and building trades jobs as Laborer. I learned a lot about how big projects are built, and life in general.

Last 10 years or so I jumped over to the QA/QC side of construction and currently a Muliti method Level 2 NDE tech working mostly in the Energy business, as a small part of some of most high profile miltibillion dollar projects in recent years. Travel sucks but it pays the bills and I might get to retire before I am dead.

+2 For energy business.

[Stanley Rockafella]

. Now I'm at Leatherman tool. Started as an operator in the machining department, worked my way up to group lead and now am a manufacturing engineer tech.

You familiar with Freddie Matera? What are your thoughts on his work?

https://www.freddiematara.com/

He makes mostly high end leather accessories.

[DealinDave@Blunttech.com]

Now I'm at Leatherman tool.

The new Free series is a far cry from my original 25+year old PST in a good way. I still use my original almost daily but all of the new features make me really want to pick up a P4.

I've worked in the automotive industry in some fashion for about 15 years. I started washing cars in high school and as a lot bitch, detailed cars for a while and became a service writer. Working at dealerships have a funny way of sapping virtually any enthusiasm you have for cars though so I was looking to get out of it. I finally found a job in the industry I like, selling BMW parts and BMW accessories (in my best Arlen accent)

[AndrewBird]

Went to school for manufacturing and got my associates degree. Worked a short bit at Nosler making bullets, then worked at a machine shop as a machinist for a few years. Now I'm at Leatherman tool. Started as an operator in the machining department, worked my way up to group lead and now am a manufacturing engineer tech. This is the best place I've ever worked. Super great company. Started going back to school working towards my bachelor's in manufacturing engineering.

[Metallated]

Noticing a lot of problem solving type gigs...the best days at work are when I figure out how to solve something that’s stumped everyone else :)

I guess E30s and all their problems attract us

I'm in college and am hoping to do something mixing chemistry, mechanical engineering, and coding.

Managed to land an internship this summer building robots to dissect mosquitoes with malaria

[Powling]

Currently: a Creative Director for an event marketing / production company. Essentially we have large brands (beer, spirits, automotive, etc.) come to us with an idea, we tell them how to do it and then we actually go and do it. Here's an example of the types of events we do.

Been there for 6.5 years, before that I worked for a few agencies as a graphic designer since graduating for graphic design.