Illinois Firefighter trying to build a RE Portfolio

[Jake Chenoweth]

1. My wife is super against REI and I've tried to get her to look into it but she has not been persuaded. What's the best way to persuade?

2. I have some deals that I’ve been looking at in the town I live in and think they’d be a good opportunity but I don’t have the capital and tried find a private money lender but no luck yet. I can’t put 20% (~ $17,000) down what is the best way to do this deal, barring I talk my wife into it?

[Jerry W.]

@Jake Chenoweth, welcome to BP bud and thank you for what you do.  There are a lot of threads on things to do when your wife is not on board with investing.  I have been investing in rentals over 25 years.  My wife has a college degree, is very intelligent, and I love her very much.  That being said she believes you should put your money in CDs, period.  She has literally opposed every single rental I have ever purchased.  I believe I have over 40 units now.  I am an attorney, but have also been a volunteer fireman for over 30 years as well.  My first pure rentals, bought not to live in was with a partner and that made it much easier.  There were 2 of us to take care of things, come up with down payments, and to fix properties up.  I bought that partner out about 7 year ago for about 20x more than the cost of out first rental house, and at least 10x his yearly salary he was making when we met. (To be fair we were pretty broke back then)  My wife and I had a few arguments, and even a few tears, but I pushed ahead.  I have never expected my wife to only take the career path I chose and only invest as I choose, so she must respect me enough to let me invest as I choose.  It is a rare occasion that she approved of what I did except for selling a house for a nice profit.  With my main job being an attorney it pays decently, but not massive as I mostly did government work as a prosecuting attorney.  Still my rentals are worth more than double what all of my accumulated assets I paid for by being an attorney.  That is a level of security I never hoped to achieve.  In fairness I put every penny back into the real estate and lived off of my attorney salary.  We simply started slow and worked up.  If I retire before age 65 it will only be because real estate made it possible.  I am in a different state than you, but feel free to chat with me if you want.  Investing is harder with your spouse not on board, but not impossible.  How fair is she with you in allowing you to have your own mind and make your own decisions for the financial future of your family.  My wife still objects to every rental I buy, but it just made buying her dream home possible.  We literally just moved into it this year.  Without real estate that dream would have never happened.