478: From Pro Snowboarder to Full-Time Flipper & Investor w/ Chris Naugle

<p>The path of a wealthy real estate investor is never a straight line. Often we’ll <a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/reach-goals-intentional-life" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>set up goals</strong></a> we deem worth chasing, then somewhere along the way, we’ll <strong>pivot to a more refined goal</strong>. Without knowing where we want to go, we can’t get the proper footing to start the journey. This is exactly what <strong>snowboarder, skater, real estate investor</strong>, and <strong>lender</strong>, <a href="https://www.chrisnaugle.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Chris Naugle</strong></a>, talks about with us today.</p><p>Chris grew up in chilly Buffalo, New York and knew he wasn’t the employment type of guy. So, after <strong>quitting his first job</strong>, he <strong>decided to start a clothing company in his basement</strong>. Then, with some of the profits from his clothing venture, paired with a loan from his mom’s <a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/glossary/heloc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">equity line</a>, he <strong>opened up a skateboard shop</strong>. Everything was going well, until the dot com crash, prompting him to <strong>become an advisor on Wall Street</strong>.</p><p>As an advisor, Chris found that more and more of his <strong>wealthy clients were investing in real estate</strong>. This prompted him to take the leap and start flipping, buying <a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/overlooked-commercial-investments-real-estate" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commercial real estate</a>, and investing in rentals. But, Chris wasn’t borrowing the right way, leading him to have to <strong>get rid of his 37 unit portfolio or </strong><a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/7-tips-overcome-bankruptcybuild-lasting-wealth" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>go bankrupt</strong></a>.</p><p>After losing years' worth of work and a massive amount of equity, Chris started to draw up