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Updated over 7 years ago, 06/26/2017
Is this all worth it?
I currently earn a six figure salary at a pretty non-pressure, but full time, job. We have 4 small children and would like to have more. So we've been trying to build our rental portfolio so that I can replace my income and retire, but it's slow going.
These last couple weeks have been really crazy, selling one house, under contract on one, and starting renovations on a third. My husband made a comment that really gave me pause. He said "We're making ourselves totally nuts now, so that when our kids are grown up we won't have to work. "
It's ironic, because of course the whole point in our real estate ventures is to enable me to be more present for our children. But on the way there... it's even harder to be present for our children. Catch 22. I'm interested in hearing different perspectives on this. Any other working moms out there who want to share how they made this work?
I got into REI at the same time I started having babies, on top of a very busy career in IT. Talk about a stressful combination ... That was in 2010. But I stuck to my goal and reminded myself that I don't choose when great opportunities come up - but I do choose whether to pursue them. Looking back I'm extremely happy I did, now I'm in a better position than I had ever imagined.
As mentioned previously, it takes two RE cycles to become a multi-millionaire. I got the first cycle done, now preparing patiently for the second cycle.
Finding, buying and fixing houses is the toughest part. The rental stage is much easier.
To lower our stress, we limited our search region, hired a property manager, focused on nice areas with good tenants, did high quality fixes to last longer and lessen repairs, and established a relationship with a lender to simplify the mortgage process. We consistently stay away from deals we are not comfortable with, even if they are very profitable.
A few years ago my wife quit her full time job to be with the kids. She gradually learned about REI and has been helping with the admin side of it. When she goes back to work, we will pay off the loans asap.
I keep working as a self employed consultant so I can select jobs that allow a balance with family life. Most of my clients allow some work from home.
Living well below our means allows us to afford buying 2 houses a year (the challenge is to find the deals worth investing).
We don't currently live on the rental income, but we count on it for our early retirement around age 50, when we will take over its management as a part time job.
We involve our son in this process, explain to him why we have rentals, how it all works, and encourage him to think about personal economics. We DO NOT perceive college and corporate career as tickets to success, instead we teach him that true wealth and independence can be achieved through investments and starting young. Fulltime jobs help create an initial investment principal and provide for basic needs, but beyond that they can become a miserable golden cage. We teach him that investing from age 16 can help him reach FI by age 40. So we put REI for him in this context and instill it in his daily life.
Christopher Blanco , I checked out your website and it's very nice, are you having good results with it generating leads? Im a newbie and I've just launched my site here in NY. I'm trying to figure what the best way to advertise would be i.e.. google Adwords, Facebook ads, SEO.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Rivy S. I feel for you and hear you. I am a Mom of just 1 kid a 4 year old with a busy full time job and I am an investor and my hubby is a stay at home dad. I have a couple of girl friends in a similar position and we all feel it is different as a mom and the data backs that up in terms of time we spend with our kids, division of house work etc and I have often felt that doing Rep as well would tip me over the edge! I'm sure they are at there but I have yet to meet a man who is pumping gas at the gas station whilst sorting out a plumbing leak whilst ordering diapers for my daughter all on my way to my 50 hour a week job. So what to do ...... yes it is hard and slow going st first but don't give up! I have sold a property, using the equity to live off for a year whilst I invest full time and am leaving work for a year on Friday (hopefully for good not just a year but we will see) to invest in real estate full time. Equity and rei has allowed me to do this. I have 2 other girl friends who are busy working moms looking to do the same thing within a year so we are all on the same path. It is really, really hard to try and do it all. It is possible but there may be other ways to achieve your goal too. Feel free to pm me if you want to be in touch with me and a couple of other ladies who are trying to be moms, investors, breadwinners and maintain our sanity!
Rivy S.
In the middle of stressful situations or when facing crossroad-type decisions (RE or otherwise) we are always challenged to consider what it would look like to move forward in faith. For us, it took a lot of faith for my wife to forgo a salary and stay at home with the kids. For us, it took a lot of faith for me to step out of my soul-killing job and not know what I was supposed to step into. For us - although the possibility of financial freedom is very appealing - it took a lot of faith to not pursue it at all costs. We are pursuing REI knowing that financial freedom would be great but that it isn't the most important thing. Faith may or may not look anything like this for you.
I fly for the airlines making 6 figures with a certainty to make well over that in the near future and am still aggressively pursuing real estate investing. Im 29 and am convinced that social security won't be there for me and i don't like the idea of my retirement being at the mercy of the stock market. Just food for thought. Secure your golden years.
@Rivy S. Try to delegate as much as possible. Also, make sure you are not over stressing yourself unnecessarily. Sometimes we put too much stress on things that really don't matter much. I'm sure if you break down "selling one house", "under contract on one", "starting renovation" to small pieces, none of the them are really that stressful. They probably consist of waiting, calling, driving, writing, finding, etc. All of them you are capable of doing.
-Working Dad
@Kate Stephens wow good luck with the transition from employee to investor! That's awesome that you were able to do it. One day by me :)
@Deborah Burian yes, keeping a flexible allocation of roles is definitely necessary.
@Soh Tanaka it's true, all of the stuff we had to do was very manageable on it's own. It's when it all piled up together during the same week that we felt like we were drowning. It was also the first week of summer vacation, which is an extremely stressful time for working parents. I think maybe one lesson might be to time/space out deals so they don't pile up.
@Rivy S., what a tough question! It's one I've grappled with as well as I get started. I only have one child so far (a one-year-old girl), but we want another. My husband and I both have high income W-2 jobs as well, but I want to spend more time with my kid(s) while they're young. I also want to build early financial freedom for all of us, so I don't have to spend 40-50 hours a week in an office until I'm 60. As I've thought about it, I figured there were a few options:
1. Continue down our current path... we live a very comfortable life and could have lots of fun along the way while also retiring pretty comfortably if we both continue to work full time. Of course, this means no extra time with the kiddos. And we'll be counting pretty heavily on those jobs... a big downsizing or getting sick/injured could really throw off our plan.
2. Scale back our expenses as much as possible so I can leave work completely and be with our kids. There's no reason we couldn't be comfortable on my husband's salary. But this reduces our ability to save and invest overall, and could really impact my career. While I don't necessarily want a 40-year corporate career, I do want a career of some sort. Plus, it puts a lot of pressure on my husband to stay in the work force for the long haul.
3. Put some parameters in place to manage my time, but do both! My husband and I are aggressively saving (40% of our income), and I even took on a small consulting job to add to our savings for investment properties and explore that avenue as a part-time way to make decent money. I work on that job and on real estate investing pretty much every day, but my rule is that I only do it while my daughter is sleeping. So I have an hour or two at a time... after she goes to bed or while she naps on the weekends... sometimes during my lunch hour during the work week. Will it take a little longer to build up this way? Yes. Will I be juggling a lot and maybe missing out on some down time? Yes. But I don't feel like I'm missing any time with my daughter, and I'm setting myself up to hopefully have much more time with her in 3-5 years, which is when we'll be starting classes/sports teams/birthday parties, etc. I probably won't FULLY cover my income by then, especially because I plan to build slow and steady so I don't drive myself crazy. But between the way we've cut back on spending, and the fact that I'm exploring consulting options as a way to supplement rental income, I hope to be in a good place soon.
I know every situation is so different, but I hope you find your perfect balance. Best of luck!
Megan Greathouse and Rivy S. hi ladies. I admire what you are doing and your work ethic so enormously. It is so challenging to balance being a mom, working, investing and having enough time that you stay sane! I have been doing a lot of reading around "life style design" (I'm not a fan of that term but can't think of a better way to describe it!) and a big shift came in my thinking when I read one of the interviews in tools of titans (tim ferris) that said think about your 10 year goals and ask yourself what it would take to achieve them in 6 months. Dare to dream of what balance you want and what you want your week to look like and map out a business plan of how you would do it in 6 months. It may just be possible to have your cake and eat it! I'm at the start of this journey but found this thought process empowering and it changed my business plan significantly. Just wanted to share this thought in case it is helpful. Keep us all posted on your progress so we can keep learning from you. Thank you both for inspiring a fellow mama investor.
@Hadley Benoit I have good results from the limited targeted marketing I do. My marketing is LASER focused in the areas I want and the specific situations I want. Eventually I plan on expanding marketing, but getting started I have enough to keep me busy. Feel free to PM me for more details.
Your kids need to learn to run the business. Move towards this. It isn't illegal because you won't be paying them!
Originally posted by @Rivy S.:
I currently earn a six figure salary at a pretty non-pressure, but full time, job. We have 4 small children and would like to have more. So we've been trying to build our rental portfolio so that I can replace my income and retire, but it's slow going.
These last couple weeks have been really crazy, selling one house, under contract on one, and starting renovations on a third. My husband made a comment that really gave me pause. He said "We're making ourselves totally nuts now, so that when our kids are grown up we won't have to work. "
It's ironic, because of course the whole point in our real estate ventures is to enable me to be more present for our children. But on the way there... it's even harder to be present for our children. Catch 22. I'm interested in hearing different perspectives on this. Any other working moms out there who want to share how they made this work?
Originally posted by @Mary White:
I absolutely understand where you are coming from. My husband has an excellent W-2 job and works long hours. I run an Ebay/Amazon business, homeschool our 3 kids and manage our 10 doors (multi-units). We are beginning our first BRRR property and I am on my own to make the decisions. My amazing husband fully trusts me to do this, but there is a definite cost to our children. It would be far easier if he handled the rentals, but his job provides vital income and he loves it. Our strategy is to flex our plans according to the needs of the kids. Right now I should be ripping out moldy walls in our BRRRR 4-plex, but my son made the Little League All Stars Team so it will have to wait. To make this work we are using cash for purchases and repairs. We are also fully renovating each property to minimalize repair needs over the next 15 years. Time is a most precious commodity and we are prepared to sacrifice some income/wealth building opportunities for the needs of our children. Best of luck to you striking a balance. I suggest reading Christy Wright's Book "Business Boutique." She also has an excellent podcast and is a champion of time management. As a mother and business owner she is a great source for good advice.
How long until the kids are old enough to help with the business? You can cover almost every home-school topic in a real estate
@Paul Hitchings my oldest is 6 :)
As a parent of 3 who are just now graduating high school, ill say It really wont matter what you do for a living, if you include your children and make it fun for them. They will not only accept it, but learn a thing or two along the way. We have a tendency to put things in boxes. School, Church, Work, Hobby, etc.
Never forget your children want to experience it all..with you
instead of focusing on the hours it takes, look at all the ways you can bring your kids into the "family business" just my 2 cents :) good luck with whatever you do
Hey @Rivy S. I really appreciated reading your post about balancing work, family, and investing. This has been the biggest challenge for me since I started investing (only a year ago). I work as a registered nurse and have two small kids (3 and 1) and trying to find time to devote to REI is challenging and usually leaves me feeling guilty because it's taking time away from my kids. It's super hard to find a good balance.
I've always been a very ambitious person who thrives under pressure. I am happiest when I'm learning new things and working on new projects. So I believe that I am a better mom and wife when I'm able to work on my passion projects that are fulfilling to me. I believe that my girls will benefit from watching me work hard on these goals and hopefully it will help them be successful in their lives as well.
Of course, finding a healthy balance is very important, and it's something I work on everyday. But I believe that if you have a passion for REI, you should continue to pursue it. I believe your children will benefit from watching you work hard towards your goals.
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#1 Personal Finance Contributor
- Rental Property Investor
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I think it's definitely worth it as long as you are building something that will earn for you once it's up and running.
It may not if you are a transactional operator that has to work to eat while at the same time take on risk and pay high tax rates. Then do it again and again. Don't just have another job.
Building anything is tough at first. Ask any entrepreneur or business owner, right? I am amazed at how much I had to do in the beginning looking back when I first exited the rat race. I remember cutting out of a rental rehab 'early' at 2:20am to get a little sleep before I negotiated with a small bank CEO at 9am for an REO apt bldg he had. Crazy!
Now the assets are doing the work while I have been in SF playing all week with my family. I try not to time sales while I also have other acquisitions or turnovers going on, but sometimes yes, we are busy. Then we get through it and focus on our families and experiences again. Great discussion!
My Wife and I have financial goals as well as personal goals. So while we also track net worth and income, we also track hours worked and time spent with kids. We check them monthly and see where we are progressing. We talk about what we need to do to make sure we hit all of our goals together. We sacrificed a lot before we had kids, and my work now play later tendencies can definitely be a hindrance to actually living sometimes. My goals all along have been so we can be with the kids, and my wife has gently reminded me that it doesn't make sense to sacrifice family to reach our goals, since the "why" behind our goals is our family. If I can't reach both goals in tandem then I need to readjust either our goals, or more likely our strategy.