If you were in my shoes...

[Josh Smalley]

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

My why: financially free so that I can split my year into 3 four month periods (4 months with extended family, 4 months in nature doing conservation work, 4 months working on philanthropic projects with NGOs [I live in Ethiopia right now and have access to many such projects]). For my wife and I, this is a HUGE focus and the driving force to what we want to do in the next ten years.

My job: my wife and I work and live internationally as teachers. It's our 7th year internationally and we don't plan to return to the US any time soon. Financially, it's a strong move for us to teach internationally as we make probably 2 to 3Xs what we would make in the US all things considered. We have a decent chunk of change to use toward purchasing property every summer due to low cost of living and good pay as international educators.

My summer home: Seattle

My current investments: performing SFR in Idaho, piece of land in Costa Rica, performing treehouse rental in Costa Rica, some paper assets.

My next goal: find a market where I can purchase cash flowing properties such that I can replace my current income in the next 10 years, with some excess for continual portfolio growth and for capital to put toward my philanthropy projects.

Education: listened to nearly every BP podcast, follow the forums and occasionally post, have a couple investments under my belt, read 10 books (give or take) on real estate investing, lead a REI group in Ethiopia. The learning curve is still steep for me, but I'm working on it.

Obstacles: don't really have a good "boots on the ground" team in any market yet (contractors, brokers, etc.). Also, I only visit the US for two months a year in the summer, so almost everything has to be done remotely. Given my goals, I'm not so keen on partnerships, although I would be willing to consider this if the context works for me. I don't have a ton of capital available. My international income is a turnoff to underwriters when leveraging. Most of my investment strategies seem to be a bit limiting given my living situation.

My value add: this one is hard for me. I'm not sure what I can do in terms of value add. I do have access to a unique demographic and can help others network into that demographic (international educators). I can offer value in ways outside of real estate itself--photography, videography, fine art, travel tips/consultation, etc. I just can't seem to find the "hustle" value-add. Maybe there's something I can do online to add value. Hmmm. 

So, what strategies would you use? What approach? Simply Buy and Hold MFH or SFHs? Note investing? Reits? Partnerships? I'm leaning toward 2-4 unit homes and trying to obtain 1 a year for the next 10 years. It seems like that would provide what I need but maybe I'm being naive.

Ok, and now I've put it out there into the genius that is the BP cosmos. What wisdom do you all have?