Not 40 Years Old Anymore...

[Ben Leybovich]

41 as of yesterday - I'm catching up to @Brian Burke, and it scares the crap out of me!

To tell you the truth, I had a rough time with 40. Something about it being more than half way to something rather gave me a moment of pause, yes indeed...

As it turned out, however, 40 was quite a year for my family and I. Here we go:

For starters, Patrisha has succeeded at nourishing our son Aaron back from autism. There's still work to be done, and there always will be, but he is more typical in more ways than not. Aside for the fact that at 6 he does math on a 4th grade level, he is a normal, manipulative 6 year-old stinker! This is huge for us, guys!

Aaron's sister, Bella, is artistic as all hell. But, we're not going to talk about it. As a father, I disagree with the artsy-fartsy thing, cause you can't make a living doing it, but this is a fight for another day...:)

I refinanced the last private money balloon I had. Everything in my portfolio is now fully amortized and automated. In fact, I've seen inside of a unit once in the last 12 months, which is very important to me. Why - because I don't want to be in Lima for much longer...more on that in a minute.

I've not worked in a few years, outside of pursuing passive cash flow. To this end, aside for stabilizing and automating our RE income, I've been able to grow my internet platform www.JustAskBenWhy.com . I have to thank my friend @Joshua Dorkinfor leading me to realize one simple truth, which is this - the more people you help, the more money you make. I cracked the code on income property investing over the past decade, and I love helping you guys figure this game out!

I took last month off for a car trip with the whole family. We jumped into the brand new Tesla Model S, which we splurged for this year (amazing!), and we went across 7 States. As I mentioned, we don't see ourselves in Lima OH for too much longer, and this trip was in part to figure out where... (also, to look at some real estate - big real estate).

I can't sell my Ohio portfolio, because I can't expose myself to the taxes; not until I've got something somewhere else to replace it with. So, let me just say this - economy, jobs, population trends, and educational opportunities are the things we looked at on this trip.

We think we've zeroed into specific marketplaces we like. And guess what - these are the markets my partners and I want to enter...

OK - I've mentioned Josh already. There are 3 other folks, who are great friends, and who, by simply being present in my life, cause my growth, as a person, and an entrepreneur. These are the folks who helped me make lemon-aid out of 40 lemons... So, @Brandon Turner, @Serge S., and of course@Brian Burke- thank you guys for your friendship, a listening ear, and patience! 

Finally, in case you are reading this and wondering - no, I did not know any of the people I mentioned prior to BiggerPockets. So, thank you BiggerPockets!

I don't love getting older. But, what the hell are you gonna do...?!

[Josh C.]

Congrats on your success Ben. You've always been interesting to listen to, even if I cringe when you talk about all those pigs. I didn't realize you were so old. :)