Testimonials

William Bryant

My name’s William Bryant, a 22-year-old real estate investor.

I grew up seeing my dad fiddle with real estate. He had always been involved with it in one capacity or another, and we had several rentals when I was a kid. When we moved into the house I grew up in (which I still own), I helped my dad renovate it. I had a hammer in my hand helping to improve everything from hanging drywall, doing carpet, moving walls, revamping the staircase, remodeling every room in the house, to outside landscaping– anything! This gave me the confidence I would need to “dive” in to real estate investing.

Eager for education to jump start my investing career, I started at Barnes & Noble, sifting through the mass amount of information available. But eventually I came across an ad for a real estate club in Spartanburg, and knew this was what I needed. I spoke with Glen Woodfin over the phone, and immediately signed up for the Yahoo! Group. But I didn’t go to a meeting just yet, I thought I had what I needed to start swimming in real estate. My head was swirling with dollar signs while I tried to find the perfect deal.

I had no money. I was only 20 years old, what bank was going to lend a 20 year old still living with his parents $100,000 to buy an investment property with no money?

So I decided my first property needed to be my own home. I needed something to learn on. I found a 2400 sq. ft. home in a good school district that needed quite a bit of rehabbing, and bought it for only $25,000! I was ecstatic! I had to borrow the $2000 to make the offer with. And I found a hard money lender through the REIA club that I had signed up through the Yahoo! Group. Still haven’t been to a meeting at this point, but I wish now I had of.

The rehab was huge, and took me over a year and a half. I ran into problems I didn’t forsee, because I wasn’t an experienced investor OR experienced carpenter more than what I had helped my dad do, and spent way more than I had intentionally intended (by about $50,000).

In the process of doing this, however, I bought my neighbor’s house subject to their mortgage, a trick I had learned through an investing book I read and an online investing class I had taken. This house I still own and use as a rental. This time, I did nothing to the house. I rented it as-is, because, still, I had little to no money.

I had also bought another property which looked as good on paper as my first property, only not as much rehab. And this time I made sure of it. But I still had never gone to a REIA meeting. Knowing what I know now, even though I made a decent 20% profit on this house, if I had gone to the meetings and heard the likes of Jason Dillard and others speak, I would have taken a different course. The small amount that the membership of the REIA club costs, I would have quickly made that back in the knowledge I gained at the first meeting I went to. (a meeting is just $10 for non-members)

But even before I went to a meeting, I had the Yahoo! Group– a very powerful tool in of itself. When I needed a contractor, I knew I could count on the references of other local investors. So I sent out emails looking for electricians, carpenters, etc, and got good references. I knew other investors had used them, and whenever more than one investor responded about the same person, I had a good idea that it would be someone I could trust.

If I had these learning flips to do over again, I would have taken the advice of Jason Dillard and began by wholesaling properties. The problem was, as simple as it is, I didn’t know how. The real problem was, I didn’t go to a meeting to hear how, and to find a mentor.

Whether you’re 22, 42, or 82, the Foothills REIA group is a POWERFUL way to find a dependable, trustworthy mentor to help you start your investing life. Many people said at 20 years old, there was no way I could even buy a house, much less invest in one, flip it, and make money. But I did. And I still am at 22, and will continue to until I get absolutely tired of it and just want to play golf everyday.

It’s a little scary at first, because it’s new, but that also makes it adventurous. With the REIA group, it can be adventurous and profitable.

I now have my own company, Simple Properties LLC, under which I hope to do more wholesaling, renting, and flipping. I author this website for the group, and have also branched off into Green Building and anything otherwise green. And it’s 100% because of the REIA group.

If you’ve made it through reading my testimonial, then you’ve hopefully realized the power of the REIA group. And I’m really new to this. So come to one of our meetings and see for yourself how the REIA group can benefit you! You can always email me at wbryant [at] gmail [dot] com if you want to know anything.

William Bryant

Looks great, eh? Tankless water heater Wife and I in Paris