In the early 90's I sat down and mapped out a plan to own 15 rental homes and be retired. Youth and my wanderlust got the better of me and I still haven't hit 15 rentals.
Fortunately, I decided to sell all of my investment properties in 2002 through 2004 so I wasn't hit by the bubble bursting, and lived pretty nicely for the next few years. Still a little young to understand how to retire, I spent all the money, and started over about a year ago.
Back then I bought every TV infomercial "Get Rich In Real Estate" program I could find. The common thread to all of the programs was simple. You had to work. That work was hours and hours of digging for deals. I chose a different method which worked very well. I bought a house, lived in it while renting a room out. After I had enough money for another house I would rent out the house I was living in and move to another.
When I got married, my wife had a house and that became a rental. Our program was much slower but worked very nicely until we decided to sell everything and move out of state. That is a story for another day.
Nearly 20 years later, my life has come full circle. We are back on the west coast, living a split life in Southern California and the Reno-Tahoe area of Nevada. Last week my wife finished her California Real Estate License by passing her state exam. She is now an agent in Huntington Beach California.
Her interest in real estate started to peak while shopping for the house we live in now. Agent after agent would tell us "Deals like that don't exist here" or "You don't know this market." After a year of acting like investors instead of grabbing the first home we liked, we ended up in the second home I ever saw after being told, "That house won't happen, what else do you want to see?" more than once by the agent we were trying to work with.
As part of my SEO and Marketing work, My brother Roy and I met Dean Graziosi, the TV Real Estate Guru at a marketing conference. I came home with his books and a great conversation under my belt. Yes, Dean is a real person and walks the walk. Telling my wife about my conversation with Dean pushed my wife over the edge.
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| Scott Bourquin - Dean Graziosi - Roy Bourquin |
Instead of listening to the agent and following his recommendations, we set out on our own, and followed the escrow of every house we liked. We knew that 50% of short sales don't close, and ours was no exception. Almost a year to the day, the house fell out of escrow and I scooped up a pretty good deal, right where I wanted to be.
My wife is hooked, and we are back in Real Estate, at least as owners together, and now she as an agent. One of the things Kelly learned in her Real Estate License course was that I really couldn't legally be of any help to her without a real estate license. She convinced me to get my license as well.
Instead of selecting the online school she chose, Allied, I picked another one. Now that I have finished the first class, Allied was a much better program and a better deal. Fortunately I don't need to take the electives since they were included in my business degree from San Jose State University, so I will have fewer classes to complete with the school I chose. My advice if you want a license, don't pick the lowest price and read the fine print.
If you are pursuing real estate as a career or as an investor, keep in touch. I'll let you know how it goes for me right here.
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