Moving forward by going back

A few posts back, I had mentioned that Jeff and I have adjusted our whole philosophy on life, work and money in late 2006. Last January I left my W-2 job in a school district primarily to be home and get my mom back on her feet after a short illness. Once her health leveled out, Jeff and I decided it was time for me to start working as a real estate investor from home. From January to March I researched investment markets, interviewed realtors, property managers, and insurance agents. At the end of March we chose a market and traveled for our first visit to view some homes. That was a disaster. Shortly after, we returned to view more homes...even worse. It was back to the drawing board. With the help of our real estate coach, we found a viable market. In May we traveled to the town, viewed about 15 properties and placed a bid on a nice two-family. We quickly closed on the property in June, and on the same day we went looking for more properties. It took us three more trips to find the second match, but in September we found one. In October, we closed on our second investment property; a very nice four-family house. Since that closing, I have been focusing my energy on managing the properties and the property manager. Jeff and I took our time educating ourselves, so we could make all the right moves in our first real estate endeavors. After long discussions, we also agreed that we should spend the same amount of time getting the properties to perform as we expected. That brings me up to today. If the properties do well on paper, we will consider new properties in the fall. Until then, I am learning how to; read property reports, deal with city offices about warnings, obtain commercial refuse contracts and electrical problems.
The explanation above is the very reason, I have been free to explore our next adventure which we will discuss tomorrow. Good luck to all of you who want to become real estate investors. The work is hard but the benefits are great!
See you tomorrow!