My brain is still spinning from the beginning of this week when I got to hear from some of my favorite authors and podcast personalities, such as David Osborn, Brandon Turner, J & Carol Scott, and Joshua Dorkin, in person. The BiggerPockets Real Estate Investing Conference was well worth the trip and I’m surprised at how much I was able to relax and not stress about the Fox Project House while there. Conferences usually leave me feeling very motivated and this one did just that. Being around 1,000 other people who also invest in real estate (or some that want to get started) is inspiring. The main message of the conference seemed to be “pick one thing to focus on and go all in before moving onto the next thing” and I needed to hear that.
David Osborn giving the keynote
My favorite class was about short-term and vacation rentals, which is how I initially planned on entering the investing world. But, then I came across a great opportunity to flip a house and I veered off path. As I’ve been working on this project, I lost sight of my initial goal and started to think that I should work towards scaling the flipping process and do multiple projects at once next year. But, while sitting in the vacation rental class I found myself more excited about that topic than any other. After spending the last decade as a hotelier, vacation rentals just make sense for me. During the Q&A I could have easily answered all the questions that were asked based on my experience in hotels…that’s when it clicked that this is something I could be very successful in. That clarity alone made the whole conference worth the investment.
Notes taken from “The Income Machine” segment. So much valuable info!
I do still plan to flip 1-2 properties a year to help fund the vacation rental purchases, but I have a long list of how I will be doing it differently. Another class I attended was about managing contractors (the hardest part of flipping) and that was extremely helpful. I’ve been keeping a running list of errors I made on my current project, and that class provided tools to help ensure most of those errors will not occur on the next one.
Often times I forget that not all investors are real estate agents. Actually, I feel like the majority aren’t, and when talking to investors this weekend many of them thought it was great that I worked for a brokerage that had a high number of agents who also invest in real estate. I heard a lot about how these investors struggle to find agents who also understand investing. I look forward to continuing to expand my knowledge in all areas REI so I can help other investors buy and sell. So, although I don’t foresee myself owning long-term rentals for quite a while, I took the opportunity to learn more about that area as well.
In all, I NEEDED this conference. I feel re-energized about investing and the traditional side of being a Realtor. If you have any interest in knowing more about what investing could look like for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. There are so many ways to invest and all are great ways to get on the road to financial freedom and get to the glory years of retirement earlier. And, If you’re thinking, “Cindy, there’s no way I can think of investing because I just need to buy/sell my own home”, I’d love to help with that too!
Hi! I’d be interested in hearing more about the managing contractors class and what you learned. I’ve got a list of mistakes I’ve made also!