Welcome to Living the Dream

I may be the last person to have a web page, but here it is in the form of a blog.  The Living the Dream blog will chronicle my career transition from government office worker to real estate entrepreneur.  I will be sharing my thoughts as I pursue various business ventures, entrepreneurial opportunities, and on random topics that pop into my head.  Hopefully I can do so in a insightful, entertaining, and light hearted manner, because while business and money are of great interest to me, there are a lot of other interesting topics that are worth touching upon.

A little something about me.   My name is  Al Young, and I live in Castro Valley California with my wife and two young kids, ages 4 and 2.  At the age of 40, I am making a transition from a financial analyst at a government agency, to the unknown, but exciting world of being a real estate entrepreneur.  Living the Dream is about living the life I wish to live, a job I am excited about and a good balance of time between work and family, and to be in control of my time.  After 12 years in a job I became increasingly bored with I began to plot my escape.  The good thing about a government job is that you have time to think while doing your job mindlessly.  I’ve had many years to think, and formulates many ideas in my head. 

The push to act came 5 years ago when my first child was born, and we decided that my wife should stay home to be a stay at home wife.  This pushed me to look for other sources of income to at least partially offset the loss of my wife’s income.  This started me in real estate because I needed a passive source of income.  Between my regular job, and family, I did’nt have time run another business.  Real estate was my financial vehicle of choice.  Actually, I have been studying real estate for many years prior, but did not commit to pursuing it until I was pushed to.

I began investing in single family houses out of state.  I chose to invest out of state because I could get positive cash flow, something I could not do in California, and I could certainly get more value out of state.  After investing in several cash flowing single family homes, I expanded into more speculative pre-construction investments.  With interest rates at historical low, I was lucky to be able to enjoy rapid appreciation in certain markets I invested in as well as positive cash flow in other less heated markets, and I was able to make a good profit in a short time.  In early 2006, interest rates began to rise,  the rate of real estate appreciation slowed, and talk turned to a real estate “bubble”.  I decided  to stop investing in pre-construction and use my profits to focus on more income producing properties in less volatile markets, as well as pursuing  other types of real estate opportunities in new markets.  I also used my profit to prepare for a career transition.

This is where I am now as a real estate entreprenur.  I am Living the Dream of spending my days with my children and family, as I pursue business opportunites I am excited and passionate about.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.