All Forum Posts by: Devin James

I'm in the same boat. After 16 years in my career (RE broker) and 13 years as an investor, I'm at the equity growth stage as well. 

I shifted from investing with a cash flow focus to the appreciation and tax benefits side of things. C class areas/properties to A class areas/properties. I always make sure that the properties are cash flow positive, but the large bulk of the money I make from them is from the other items (appreciation, debt paydown, tax benefits, etc). 

It seems to be a pretty natural evolution for many investors. When you don't have any money/equity (early in career and/or early in your investing journey) the tax benefits are pretty minor. But, once you do build some wealth and have a high income, you realize how much you can save/make by owning the right real estate - numbers that far exceed any cash flow you might make on a property. 

I feel like theres more opportunity in equity growth, but I personally am in the Median income area - I like to see a little cash flow and have good tenants. Also, if anything were to go wrong I wouldnt have the capital available to pay extra on a property every month. 

OP why?

Forget the politics.  If we bring in 20mm people with no money they take up all of the low priced housing.  This in turns hikes the price on mid size housing.      Plus it drives down wages so existing population can’t move up in housing.

Add in Airbnb and you drive up housing.

Add in tariffs for Canadian lumber 3 years ago and potential future China and Mexico tariffs.  

Don’t see cheap housing in the future.  Unless as stated above there is cheaper housing out in the country side.  But most ethnic groups always start in large cities.  

My family with 3 young kids on an E8 wages started in a trailer and apartments.  Later the American dream 40 acres and a large house.  Opened a trailer park next to our house for military.  

Who is your market for lower cost housing.  As a developer what plans and developments do you have in progress?  

The problem is the government would have to get out of the way. And I don’t know if they’ve ever given up a power they took or a fee they’ve imposed. 

Look at every single existing and new build. The cost per sf skyrockets as house size decreases. 

You could convince people they should have their kids, parents and/or grandparents live in their houses with them. 

Ps. If smaller living space was the answer we could just build a boatload of 1000 unit apartment buildings. (Call them condos if you want the pride of ownership.) But Americans have pets they love and want our space. There’s a boatload of affordable housing across the country in small towns. But affordable housing isn’t good enough. It has to be in the most desirable/expensive areas of the country. Many people assume they have the right to affordable housing in markets the middle, or even upper middle class can’t afford. 

I think it's not as worth it for builders. If they can build a larger home and sell it for the same or more rather then building a couple small homes why do it? I also don't think the price would be cheaper then preexisting homes. The smaller new builds still go for a pretty penny in my area and it's not affordable compared to what else is out there. If someone would choose a new, small 2/1 for 250K or a 3/1 1950s build for 250K they would choose the bigger one all day long. Just what I see

This is great advice. When I first started learning about REI (4 years ago) I had these thoughts constantly. I figured "this has to get better, right?"

Eventually I realized that you really just need to look for a deal that fits your criteria. If you can find that deal, pull that trigger. The second best time to plant a tree is certainly today. It's always going to be easy to look back and wish you would've invested in year X.