To Whom It May Concern:

I’ve thought a lot about to whom this blog is written. I mean – you and I probably have not met (yet). How do I know what to write about?

My conclusion (which is subject to change, after all, it is my blog) is that this blog is written to me. I know that seems self-serving, but give me a moment and hear me out.

A child enters a carnival and sees over to the left a guy hawking cotton candy. As he skips over to look at the fluffy, pink confectionery he notices a little further down a game where he can shoot a gun at some ducks for a prize. Quickly he buzzes past the sales person headed straight for the game – only to pass a dunking booth over on the right. Whoa! Stop right there! A dunking booth! Are you kidding me? The child immediately stops in his tracks to toss some baseballs at the heckling victim. Just as he rears back to throw his first pitch, he hears a man holler, “Step right up – see the world famous ‘wolf-boy!’"

I am the child.

My thoughts can run a mile-a-minute and sometimes never end. Many nights I’ll lie awake in bed trying to shut down my brain – to no avail.

The entries in this blog will help me record and organize my thoughts. Hopefully, you’ll see something in there that will help – perhaps you will add to the process and improve me!

Whom do I think will gain from reading these cyber-pages? I thin YOU will if:

1. You have a desire to learn
2. You like to constructively contribute
3. You are a Regular Joe
4. You want to invest in real estate

Here is what I promise you:

• You will get me – the full me with no holding back
• I will not peddle ‘strategies’ that I have not used myself and verify they work
• I will share my mistakes
• I will share my victories

I look for the same from you – I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine… What do you say?

- ZenDarb

How it all Started

I suppose you are wondering how I got started investing in real estate. Well, I don’t want to keep you in suspense, so here is what went down.

My lovely wife and I lived in central Florida in a typical 1950’s style home: concrete block, 2 BR/ 1 BA with a carport. We purchased the home in 1994 for $36,000. Life continued on. A couple of years later, we opened a Line of Credit on the house and bought a truck (I love trucks!).

As life would have it, we decided to move near Charlotte, NC. Instead of selling the house we decided to rent it out. Our mortgage payment was $266 a month and the rent was $600 a month. Everything was going great.

After a couple of years, our tenants asked if they could buy the home. We struck a deal for $70,000 and closed quickly.

I looked back on the whole thing:

1. Bought a house
2. Bought a truck
3. Rented the house with positive cash flow
4. Sold the house and had a lot of money left over

Something inside ‘clicked.’ This was easy. This was simple. I made money (and got a truck out of the deal!). I suppose it was then that I decided real estate would be in my future.

- ZenDarb