My offer has been accepted.

The builder of the home in Sydney, Australia has accepted my offer of $511,250 for the home I am purchasing for my mother. The home was listed for $569k when I was there in August of this year. It's a beautiful home and definitely too large for my single mother, however we're getting the most for our money on the property versus all of the other ones for sale. Now, I have to get approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) in Australia before I can enter a sales contract on the home. I have contacted Solicitors (basically an escrow company) to help me through the process. I have been quoted $1,500 for their services which is reasonable. I am really happy to see that the exchange rate has improved drastically for the U.S. dollar (USD) to the Australian dollar (AUD). Currently on XE.com, it's showing that I will get $1.38 AUD for every USD which is much better than last week. I am praying for a rate over $1.40 AUD which will be really helpful in the amount of USD that I need to wire over there for the purchase.

College and my first properties.

I continued to attend school and work full-time at Nordstrom for the next two years. During this period, I also started to sell shoes on eBay with a partner. Our main products were Diesel and Michael Jordan shoes. I also picked up a part-time job at a local pharmacy delivering medication all over the Westside of Los Angeles.

I thought I would get my degree from University of California, Riverside (UCR), so a couple friends and I rented a townhouse in Riverside. After attending Riverside Community College (RCC) for another one and a half years, I went to Cal State San Bernardino (CSUSB) for one quarter and then finally transferred to California Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly).

During this period, I applied for an accounting internship at a local manufacturing company. After four months I was offered an accounting supervisor position, two levels up from my internship position. I began to make really good money and was able to put enough money aside to purchase my first investment property. I was also able to payoff my second new car that I had purchased.

During the planning stages of transferring to Cal Poly Pomona, I did not want to commute from Riverside and wanted to purchase a condo for myself. I began to save and search for the right home. I found an ideal townhouse in Rancho Cucamonga and made arrangements to purchase this home for myself. I knew I could not afford the mortgage payments by myself, so I planned on renting two out of the three bedrooms to other students.

My success during my college years showed me that I was destined for something great. I wasn't exactly sure what, but I just felt different from everyone else. The results experienced in this part of my life further supported my belief in the saying, "You can accomplish anything you put your mind to."