When sticking to your goals get difficult.

[Tom R.]

Yesterday I went house shopping with my brother. He just got a new job and is moving to town. The house he chose was one of the nicest houses I have ever seen. By contrast I live in a trailer park with my friend who drives me nuts most of the time. The master bath in the house my brother chose is larger than my bedroom and his closet is the size of my kitchen. While my brother makes at least $30k/yr more than I do I could actually afford to buy this house. 

I am tempted to buy myself a nice house so I can live in comfort but I when decided to invest in real estate more than a year ago I wrote myself a why statement. I thought sharing it today would help keep me motivated on my path to financial independence and maybe it will help some of you who are starting out.

I grew up very poor. As a child there were times that my mother didn't eat so that I would have enough.  People like to say money doesn't buy happiness. Its obvious to me that those people have never truly been broke. I wasn't very old when I knew I wanted to live a different life than my parents lived.

I was a late bloomer. I didn't start my career until I was 35 years old. It didn't take long for me to figure out that if I were to retire comfortably the way I wanted I would either have to work into my 70's or I would need another source of income. After reading I don't know how many books on investing and financial independence I decided real estate was the answer.

My life's goal is to retire while I am young enough to appreciate my retirement. I want to live in a nice house on some land ideally with a place I can go fishing. I want goats and chickens that will provide fresh eggs, meat and milk. To sustain this I want 6 figures of passive income.

To achieve this I will buy rental properties. I've started out with one house which cashflows over $3000 a year. At this rate I will need over 30 houses to meet my goals. I am in the process of buying my second but have hit a road block. One of the sellers died last week meaning we cannot close until either probate is over or a judge approves the sale of the house. At my current income I can afford to buy 1 house per year. 30 years is too long so I will either need to find houses with better cash flow or I will need to find another source of income to buy these houses.