The Life of Real Estate Investing: No Hype, No BS Real Estate Investing Strategies That Work In Any Economy

Chapter 1

In The Beginning…The Story Of How I Got Started

My name is Antonio Edwards.

Believe it or not, I was in the music business for nearly a decade before I became a full-time real estate investor.

I was a sixteen year old high school kid, when I started making and producing tracks for artists. I loved it and vowed to do it full time when I had the chance.

After high school, I took a back-breaking full time job as a delivery truck driver for copier machines. I worked long hours, driving, loading and unloading my cargo.

But I never forgot my passion.

I would come home from a long hard working day with melodies and harmonies pumping in my head and ready to be released on tracks.

In 2006, I decided I need to take my music career more earnestly so I quit my dead end job and took my music career to a new level.

I formed Prolific Productions, LLC and began producing and submitting tracks to major record labels and selling beats to independent ones.

It was hard work but I was having fun. I was doing what I was passionate about.

I travelled a lot, stayed in fancy hotels and met with a lot of people in the business. I simply crushed it.

Next thing I know, I was already in major labels working with respectable artists such as Shawty Lo, Busta Rhymes, Young Dro, Governor, Twista, Michelle Williams (you can google if you haven’t heard of them) just to name a few.

During my off times, during plane rides or while waiting for appointments, I read books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Millionaire’s Mind, Think & Grow Rich.

I figured I was a businessman now so I need to smarten up and start thinking like one.

That’s when I noticed these books have one thing in common…

REAL ESTATE.

That definitely gave me an idea.

After a year, I bought my first house and built a studio next to it and began taking in my own sessions to generate steady income. It was also at about that time I started attending little seminars about real estate where speakers would bring up wholesaling. I’m like, "That seems too good to be true".

I was intrigued but I knew that I would not be able to do real estate and music at the same time. I began finding myself hanging around in my studio thinking about real estate or have my head hanging eager to read the new real estate investing book in my bag that I just bought.

After two years, right about at the end of summer 2009, I have made up my mind.

I decided to leave my music career and start my real estate business and do it full-time.

At that moment, I didn’t really realize how bold it was to venture in a new full-time career. When I look back, I can’t help but tell myself, "Wow! I had guts. That was a bold move!"

Months prior to getting out of my music career, I met a fellow who had "We buy Houses at the back of his truck. We met when he stopped by after noticing a We buy Houses" magnet stuck on my car.

He asked me if I was an investor. I said, "No, I do music and my studio is here, but I’m interested in real estate investing. He gave me his card and said, If you know anybody who sells a house, give them my information".

The guy’s name is Kris Haskins. He’s a seasoned real estate guru who was also previously in the music industry.

What a coincidence!

It’s funny how people are put into your life at the right time. I kept in touch with Kris partly because we were both familiar with the music industry but mostly because I wanted to learn real estate investing from him.

He told me, "Music is a rough business, so I got out and invested in a Real Estate instead". That’s when I realized I did not only gain a friend in Kris – I actually gained my first true real estate investing mentor.

Back to the summer of 2009, I was putting some bandit signs in between my time off from studio.

BOOM!

I had a call from a motivated prospect. I didn’t know what to do but I knew someone who did – Kris Haskins. I then told him about the property, baths, location, bed, and asking price. He said it sounded interesting, so I set up for both of us to go out to the property.

There we were, and saw the motivated seller in front of the house. I got to see firsthand Kris talking and negotiating with the seller. And the next thing I knew, we had a contract to buy at the house $38,000. We also had to pay off liens and judgments which amounted to about $10,000. That meant we will be in the deal for $48,000.

I didn’t know values, but I knew $48,000 seemed a low price for a house. As a beginner, I didn’t have buyers’ list, but Kris knew someone who might be interested.

Couple of days later, we went to meet the guy at the property and he said he is taking it at our asking price of $60,500.

Wow! I just landed my first deal with a $12,500 profit!

And the rest, as they say, is history.

After that first deal, I was stoked and as a result, twenty something more landed on my table in my first year. I quickly developed my own investing style and my own systems so I can always have deals coming in consistently.

I had found a new passion and it definitely brought in bigger and