I'm BRAND new and ready to go

[Brian Palme]

Good evening BiggerPockets - I hope this post finds you doing well.

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to all of you.  My name is Brian Palmé. I am a full time high school science teacher and a part time real estate agent from a smaller, suburban town outside of Philadelphia, PA.  I have a beautiful family of a wife and two young boys.  My BIG WHY is my family and I want to give them the WORLD.  Thus my dive into real estate investing and BiggerPockets.

The horrible, ugly truth is that I have zero experience other than the books I have read (and continue to read) and a couple 3-day "courses" from the "dreaded" gurus.  I hardly have any working capital to play with as I feel I live paycheck to paycheck.  I am gaining confidence the more I listen to the podcasts while working out at the gym at 5:00 in the morning and reading books after grading and planning, but as many speakers have said - The real education happens when you have "skin in the game."  I am ready to get beat up, bruised, and battered as I get my feet wet and learn the crafts you all have become so great.  I just need direction.

I know that this is nothing specific and a very general (and probably cookie cutter) introduction - but trust me it is full of emotion and energy.  I am tired of the day-to-day drain and worry of money, and I am ready to grow and be all that I can be for my family.

I thank you for reading this and any sage words of advice, encouragement, direction would be greatly appreciated.

[Account Closed]

Welcome BP and the real estate world.

Not having cash is not so good, but it is possible to make money with a small amount of money. I wrote a story several times about a Japanese girl who ran away from home in Japan and came to the U.S. with no money. Seven years later, she owned 18 homes and I figured she was worth $2.3 million if she cashed out.

I made more than $30 million investing in real estate since 2001. Before 2001, I was married two other times. I invested in real estate since about 1965 and made a few million dollars, but when I met a girl who liked the same lifestyle that I liked was when I started to make more than $30 million in 18 years.

I also know several other who people started in real estate with no money and every one of us have the same things in common. We are totally non-materialistic. We are not cheap. We are not even totally frugal. We just don't like to waste money on things we don't need.

The Japanese girl never had a driver's license, never had a job and she can carry every personal item she owns it a few shopping bags. She saved $7,000 she earned by babysitting and purchased a co-op with a friend. Her friend moved back to Japan. So, this Japanese girl re-financed the co-op, bought her friend's half and invested the remainder of the refinance money in a condo. She rented the condo to about 10 Japanese college student's made thousands in profit every month. She refinanced the condo and bought another house. Within 7 years she purchased 18 homes and rented every one of them to college students.

The Japanese girl lives the same lifestyle and myself and other millionaires. She lives in one of her rental homes and she even rents her closet to a male student. Weird! But, who am I do judge.

My wife and I sort of live the same lifestyle as the Japanese student. We live in a commercial office building I paid cash for in 1995. We have two children and they live in offices. We have zero furniture with the exception of desks and office tables. We buy all our vehicles at auctions and never spend more than $4,000. We eat very inexpensive foods i.e. rice  and homemade chili every day. We drink only water and we pack our rice and chili in thermos bottles every day. We eat at a cheap restaurant about once a month.

We don't try to be cheap. We just can't why people enjoy paying $50 to $150 for a meal when the food we enjoy costs only a few dollars. All our birthday parties cost less than $30 and most of the time we don't give gifts because we are nice to each other every day.

I think everyone wastes too much money for things they don't need. Since I bring my lunch with me every day I figure I save several thousand dollars every year and I each much better quality foods. Since I drink bottled water that costs 8 cents vs. 50 cents to more than $1 for a soft drink, I save another thousand dollars every year. Since we are not materialistic and we live in a commercial building with concrete floors we save tens of thousands of dollars every year. Since we drive beat up vehicles we save tens of thousands of dollars.

We live a stress-free live. We ride bicycles about 60 to 80 miles every week and we ride from Los Angeles to San Diego, 126 miles, in one day about 3 times every year. We almost never go to movie theater. We watch zero television. Our tv's are not even connected to antennas. We do a lot of reading and my wife can spend 8 hours in the bathroom every day painting her toe nails.

Most people make enough money to invest in real estate, but they spend their real estate money for things they don't need. I think most people spend their money for furniture and gifts they don't need because they don't want to hurt other people's feelings. People are brought up to think that living like we do is boring and not any fun. I trained and set my last wife straight when we started. We got married in a court house and I took her to Mc Donalds for our banquet (as we call it). I never showered her with diamonds or gifts. For Christmas, I don't believe people should have to give gifts, but we may buy each other one small thing. For my birthday a few months ago, I got zero and I am happy because I don't want anyone to buy me something because I already have every thing I want. Give me a give would only be a gesture if I don't want it and will not use it.

Go to every real estate meeting you can go to. Never buy one thing that is sold at clubs. Think about where you can save money, the things you don't need and where you can save money. I always told my 2nd wife there is a huge difference between what you want and what you need.

Back to my Japanese friend. She is still single and buying properties. There is a lot of profit to be made when renting to college students. Maybe, that would be a good place to start for you. My Japanese friend even rent sthe laundry rooms to students and she rents the living rooms to 2 or 3 girls. They put 4 walls in the center of the living rooms with those Japanese paper walls.

Welcome to BP and the real estate world.

Not having cash is not so good. I wrote a post several times about a Japanese girl friend (not girlfriend) who came to the U.S. without a penny, never had a job, never had a driver's license, purchased a co-op with $7,000 she saved from babysitting, re-financed the co-op, purchased a townhome, rented it to 10 college students, re-financed again and again, had 18 homes in 7 years and had a net worth of about $2.3 million.

That is the shortest version of my long story.

But, this Japanese girl and my family have something in common that most people don't have. I've been investing since 1965, made several million dollars between 1965 and 2000, but I made more $30 million in 18 years between 2001 and 2019. What we have in common with the Japanese girl is we are the most non-materialistic people you will every need. We are not weird. We just don't like sitting in restaurants, waiting for food and then paying money to eat when we don't even enjoy sitting in a restaurant. We live in a commercial building with concrete floors and zero furniture with the exception of office desks and office tables. We seriously enjoy not paying for furniture and we enjoy not having to worry about furniture falling apart or having to replace it. We pack our food in thermos bottles 7 days a week. We buy only cheap used vehicles. We drink only water and save thousands of dollars by not paying for soft drinks. We don't buy each other gifts on holidays or any special occasions with the exception of maybe something inexpensive. All our birthday parties cost less than $30 and last less than 5 minutes with the exception that sometimes my wife will put something on the barbecue.

The weirdest thing about my wife and two children is they are frugal and don't want anything. We gave our son $1,000 in spending cash when he went to Japan last year and he came back with $950. Our daughter went to Japan and spent a little more because she purchase a lot of Japanese comic books and magazines. But, no junk and nothing that will only collect dust.

My suggestion; start looking at ways to save money and you will have more to invest.