All Forum Posts by: Daniel Mohnkern

Hi there @Gabriel Hershberger

Are you related to Todd?  I went to school with him back in the 90's.

I'd be glad to meet up with you some time.  Shoot me text and we'll see when it would work out with both of our schedules.  8142719908

Welcome, @Ryan Bardo!  I am from down the street in Titusville, Pa.  If ever I can do anything to help you out while getting started, let me know.  Read several of the forums and blogs (along with the suggested books).  The podcasts are invaluable too.  I've listened to all of them, and some of them several times!  Learn, learn, learn, and then, take action!

Best of Success,

Daniel Mohnkern

Have them be responsible for the mowing with language in the lease that, if it grows higher than so many inches, you will do it and charge how ever much with the next month's rent.  Security-I have it for me, not for them.  But, if something happens to THEM or their stuff, I would share footage with them and authorities for their benefit.

  You really should let her finish building the wall.  Then, next month, send her a notice of increased rent because she is renting one of your units with one more bedroom than she was the month before.  More bedrooms can be a good thing for you.  What a great opportunity for you to increase rents due to someone else upgrading your property for you.  Later, if she moves out, you can go in and make sure the wall makes sense, but in the meantime, make sure she pays you for that extra bedroom your renting her.

  Perhaps you should be.  Negotiating can be done anywhere.  I negotiate all the time.  At various chain retailers, I have gotten a stereo system for 35% off, a refrigerator for 15% off, a better deal on a front loader washing machine, etc.  Heck, I even have pitted two furniture stores against each other to give me the best deal on a nice office desk, and have gotten free meals at restaurants in exchange for bringing more people than just myself.  

Life is a negotiation.  Make the best one you can.  It's more fun that way.

Perhaps she should try resending the original post so we can take a look at a description and numbers of the properties she is referencing.  No information at all is anticlimactic and is nowhere near intriguing.  I don't expect detailed information, just any.  A marketer marketing a market is marketing nothing.

I am not calling anyone out on this.  It is merely an observation of mine that some people who will look at passive investment with hyper critical eyes and claim that, because they have to put forth any effort of their own at all, they insist that an otherwise passive investment is actually an active investment.  It is my opinion that, in many situations, this criticism is coming from a tendency to be lazy and is evidence that this person might be looking for a "get rich quick scheme" or are looking for a high yield savings account type of financial plan rather than actual investing.

It is easy for anyone to throw money at a so called investment opportunity and lose all of his/her money for lack of doing any investigating, due diligence, or what some might call work.  This is what I would consider a distinction between a real investor and a gambler.  Whether you are buying real estate, buying precious metals, buying stocks, buying mutual funds, buying companies, or giving someone else an interest bearing loan, the point at which you become an investor verses a gambler is when you are willing to put forth effort in ensuring that you have mitigated risk and taken advantage of all possible profits.  If you are unwilling to put forth that effort, go to a casino.  If you are willing to put forth that effort, you will soon see that, even with that effort, you can turn nearly any "active" investment into a mostly "passive" investment.  The difference being that, with a passive investment, you will most likely have money coming in from the work of others or because of market volatility rather than having the majority of that money being a direct result of your own labor.

An example of this would be when I have a meeting with the manager of the Burger King I own or a meeting with the property manager of my MFRs.  I am working very little and am collecting much money because of the work of others.  It is leveraging time.  Just like with leveraging money with bank loans or hard money loans, it requires a little bit of my time if I want to be successful at it.  This is not to say it is an active source of income; it is instead staying on top of a passive source of income.

Example 1a: you flip houses and do all the work yourself - you have a job. = active investment

Example 1b: you flip houses and have a GM organise contractors and a realtor finding the deals and finding buyers. Your office manager sometimes has a question for you. = passive investment

Example 2a: you buy rental units and manage them yourself, doing your own repairs and evictions and application processing. You receive broken toilet calls at 3am. = active investment

Example 2b: you buy rental units and have a good property manager.  Every month you see your accounts have more money than the month before. = passive investment

Example 3a: you loan $25,000 to a person you don't know for his investment and do no due diligence. = you are a gambler

Example 3b: you loan $25,000 to a person you have thoroughly vetted, done your due diligence, secured collateral, and have a good lawyer. = passive investment

Example 4a: you put your money in a 401k and hope for the best. = you are a gambler

Example 4b: you buy a company, place competent managers over it, have that manager hire competent staff, and you keep your thumb on everything, having occasional meetings for effective communication on expectations and efficiency. = passive investment

Example 4c: you buy a company and work it yourself. = you bought yourself a job that some call an investment to make themselves feel successful.

It all comes down to whether or not you are willing to put forth any effort at all.  

If yes, you have the possibility of having an investment.  Active if you are doing all the work; passive if you hire others.  

If not, you are a gambler.

So, to your original question, if you are active you limit your effectiveness because you run out of time = less money

If you are passive, you leverage other people's time and can have many irons in the fire at the same time even though you have to do things sometimes = more money

If you are a gambler, you put forth no effort so you unwittingly give your money to others = no money

I am not calling anyone out on this.  It is merely an observation of mine that some people who will look at passive investment with hyper critical eyes and claim that, because they have to put forth any effort of their own at all, they insist that an otherwise passive investment is actually an active investment.  It is my opinion that, in many situations, this criticism is coming from a tendency to be lazy and is evidence that this person might be looking for a "get rich quick scheme" or are looking for a high yield savings account type of financial plan rather than actual investing.

It is easy for anyone to throw money at a so called investment opportunity and lose all of his/her money for lack of doing any investigating, due diligence, or what some might call work.  This is what I would consider a distinction between a real investor and a gambler.  Whether you are buying real estate, buying precious metals, buying stocks, buying mutual funds, buying companies, or giving someone else an interest bearing loan, the point at which you become an investor verses a gambler is when you are willing to put forth effort in ensuring that you have mitigated risk and taken advantage of all possible profits.  If you are unwilling to put forth that effort, go to a casino.  If you are willing to put forth that effort, you will soon see that, even with that effort, you can turn nearly any "active" investment into a mostly "passive" investment.  The difference being that, with a passive investment, you will most likely have money coming in from the work of others or because of market volatility rather than having the majority of that money being a direct result of your own labor.

An example of this would be when I have a meeting with the manager of the Burger King I own or a meeting with the property manager of my MFRs.  I am working very little and am collecting much money because of the work of others.  It is leveraging time.  Just like with leveraging money with bank loans or hard money loans, it requires a little bit of my time if I want to be successful at it.  This is not to say it is an active source of income; it is instead staying on top of a passive source of income.

Example 1a: you flip houses and do all the work yourself - you have a job. = active investment

Example 1b: you flip houses and have a GM organise contractors and a realtor finding the deals and finding buyers. Your office manager sometimes has a question for you. = passive investment

Example 2a: you buy rental units and manage them yourself, doing your own repairs and evictions and application processing. You receive broken toilet calls at 3am. = active investment

Example 2b: you buy rental units and have a good property manager.  Every month you see your accounts have more money than the month before. = passive investment

Example 3a: you loan $25,000 to a person you don't know for his investment and do no due diligence. = you are a gambler

Example 3b: you loan $25,000 to a person you have thoroughly vetted, done your due diligence, secured collateral, and have a good lawyer. = passive investment

Example 4a: you put your money in a 401k and hope for the best. = you are a gambler

Example 4b: you buy a company, place competent managers over it, have that manager hire competent staff, and you keep your thumb on everything, having occasional meetings for effective communication on expectations and efficiency. = passive investment

Example 4c: you buy a company and work it yourself. = you bought yourself a job that some call an investment to make themselves feel successful.

It all comes down to whether or not you are willing to put forth any effort at all.  

If yes, you have the possibility of having an investment.  Active if you are doing all the work; passive if you hire others.  

If not, you are a gambler.

So, to your original question, if you are active you limit your effectiveness because you run out of time = less money

If you are passive, you leverage other people's time and can have many irons in the fire at the same time even though you have to do things sometimes = more money

If you are a gambler, you put forth no effort so you unwittingly give your money to others = no money

Are you saying, "If you want to see ANYTHING about properties we may have, go to this website" or are you saying "if you are interested in these properties that I did not show you, then go to the website"?  If you aren't going to say anything about any properties at all, would it not be easier to just say, "I have properties.  Go to my website and look at them."?  Saying "if you want MORE information..."implies that you gave us some information in the first place.  We see none.