My Journey to $20M in assets

[Dan Zambrano]

Hey all,

After thinking it over I decided to create a new thread.

I am a small time passive real estate investor who has ambitions to expand greatly, first to $20M and perhaps maybe more. i guess I will give a little bit of background on my journey up to now.

I am 38 y/o, Electrical Engineer by day, Architectural enthusiast by night. I was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and through a mentor got word of a book called The Fountainhead. Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class. I forgot how the book ends but one of the high points was his design of a chapel "for the worship of God and the service of Man". I had no idea what Ayn Rand was writing about was a REAL person: Frank Lloyd Wright. Fast forward a year later I am at home (Chicago) and find myself in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park. Imagine my surprise as I walk up to this structure, thank god I was "awake" enough to be able to notice this beautiful piece of Architecture:

The enigma that was Roark hopped out at me in real life in the form of his temple, in reality it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a turning point in my life. Since then I have dedicated most of my free time to study Wrights work, developing myself as 1st an Architectural Drafter, and now as a conduit of beautiful Architecture and interior/exterior design in the spirit and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. I have moonlighted for several Architects and through hard work and good fortune stumbled on an opportunity to become an apprentice electrical engineer. 10 years later I am a senior engineer, together with my wife, have a decent portfolio of Real Estate. I always suspected that to achieve anything of great notoriety in Architecture one needed to have access to wealthy friends or develop projects oneself. Not having the latter I find myself on a journey to build a portfolio not just for wealth's sake, but to move the proverbial needle on beautiful design and provide a more pleasant built environment for all!

So that is me. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting weekly progress on here. Cheers and hope you all have a great weekend!

[Dan Zambrano]

I am through module 1 of Kai's course and it is definitely like drinking water out of a fire hydrant. Too much to recap, but it is very skewed to the "fundamentals of having a successful overall business". Meaning how to attract the type of people you want to your STR listings and how the heck you are supposed to know if there is a market for your type of "customer" in the area you are investing. I honestly needed this awakening. Chugging along. Currently playing with the idea of buying acreage in the west burbs of Chicago and design/ building a duplex and then another and another. We'll see where it goes either way I am determined to design build something to make into a successful STR business.

oh yeah and currently taking a major L on QQQ shorts that I was probably too early into. I have 6 month calls on TLT and redfin which should do well in the apparant recession that we are running headfirst into this fall/winter.

I am out of long term stock market and my opinion is it is dangerous to be in right now unless you are going to stay in for years. 

Cheers folks!

[Richard Rao]

Dan, do you own any real estate as of now? what does your current financial situation look like? I see that you have a goal to own 20 million in real estate but what do you want to do with it? Live off cashflow? Sell and cash in on the equity? 

[Dan Zambrano]

Quote from @Richard Rao:

Dan, do you own any real estate as of now? what does your current financial situation look like? I see that you have a goal to own 20 million in real estate but what do you want to do with it? Live off cashflow? Sell and cash in on the equity? 

Hey Richard,

Welcome to the party!

Here is a recap:

1. Currently at 1.1M in assets
2. Too much bad debt 😅 kind of a joke
3. As cliche as it may sound my goal is the process. I care deeply about good Architecture and being a developer is the best fit for me to introduce a better built environment. I will figure out what to do with it when I get to $20M, but it will probably just be finding new ways to improve built environment along with travelling more and spending more quality time with fam.

[Dan Zambrano]

Hi all, thanks for the recent likes. I have been trucking along with Kai Andrews course, through 3 modules already. I am starting to have some doubts about the feasibility of Short term rental in the Chicagoland suburbs. Anyone know of a successful BNB'er in Chicago or near suburbs?

Still, I am making it a commitment to finish the course 1 video lesson per day. Recently i met up with Jonathan K. and it made my whole month. Incredibly sweet guy, and was very interested in my story, and shared his which is super inspirational! What also inspired me  was meeting an entrepreneurs that is making things happen and building wealth near me! So huge. Anyway that's it for now, back to the grind, cheers folks!

[Dan Zambrano]

Quick update: I am 3/4 through the landhacker course and I can resoundingly say it has been worth probably 5x the value I paid for it ($2500). So many golden niggets that Kai opens up about and reappy lays down a blueprint for starting a successful STR. My goal for this is to finish the course within the next 2 months and come up with a plan and proof of concept STR somewhere within 15 minutes from my home. I feel myself seeing the c9mpounding results of drilling down on the course and real estate investing the last few months. I will try to post some entertaining updates on here and less nitty gritty like this or maybe mix them both up.

love yall!

P.s. its going to be Q4 2024 in a few days!!!! Do you feel like you are stepping up and doing what you need to do to obtain the life and results you desire? 

Cheers yall