All Forum Posts by: Gail W.

This is a very useful thread. I want to add my voice for Proverbs, whether you are Jewish, Christian or otherwise it is full of common sense on how to live a productive life including financial. 

@jim K 

@Jim K. I have not read "The Millionaire Next Door" but I will now. This is an amazing post and I believe it goes to the heart of what is wrong in our country. I have lived as you described, it was not until I was older that I realized what it was costing me and my family. I want to thank you for all of the people who are able to see through the mind control because of this statement you have posted.

On a different note I am glad you are recovering from Covid. My wife and I are going through it right now.

My current mortgage is paid by farm rental income and has been for many years. I never worry about it, it's all automatic through the bank. I have considered paying off my smaller mortgages on my SFH's the last couple of months because of the struggle of finding deals on houses that I can live with. I feel like this is a better option for me than leaving money sit in a savings account.

I try to show respect for all the people I need to deal with. It seems that If I am seen with the proper attitude it makes them feel more at ease. At the same time I require that same respect, If you think I'm a push over because of my attitude and try to take advantage, you'll find it's not so easy. I just firmly and politely stand my ground. Also I am lucky to live in a small town where there is not much to fear as far as the violence in the larger cities.  

I'm in Central Illinois, I've been looking at new construction for rentals. The big holdup for me as far as rentals go are property taxes. Also the price of materials right now is prohibitive.

This is MY UNDERSTANDING OF A COVID WITHDRAWAL;  If you have been impacted by Covid 19, You can pull $100,000 without the IRS penalty or taxes if you pay it back within 3 years. There are rules the IRS has posted to determine if you have been impacted. If you fail to pay it back you would be liable for the tax as earned income. AGAIN THIS IS ME. I am not an accountant or financial advisor. You should talk to both before you make a decision.

I also have used Dumawall on 2 bathrooms. One was a tub surround the other I did the whole bathroom. Easy to install, the whole bath took a day and I built the tub surround in a couple of hours. Looks great too.

     I actually was on the other side of this not long ago. A good friend who I had not been able to visit with in a couple of years told me he was buying property to hold and rent. I looked at him and said so you're a slumlord? He simply said no not really, why don't we get in the car and go for a ride. So he showed me all 9 of his well kept properties and 1 that was in the process of being rehabbed. He explained his philosophy that if he had nice places he would get a better tenant, and that had worked well for him to that point.

     This was the reason I got back into buy and hold investing, (I had a bad experience many years earlier.) To this day 3 years later and 4 1/2 years into my fiends landlording journey, he is still having good relationships with his tenants. there are slumlords out there for sure, but we can choose not to be! 

@Erik Stewart

As far as mind set to buy real estate I was only 18. I had no idea how much I didn't know about everything. However the first two houses I bought I didn't put a dime down and my payment was cheaper than rent.

I don't regret when things got tough in construction that I went to work in the factory, I got lucky because of my construction experience got me a place right away in building maintenance which is where I learned HVAC. After 16 years though I was running an HVAC company on the side after losing the farm in the divorce and I was ready to go out on my own when the factory offered me a different job in Electrical maintenance and I shut down my business and took the job, and stayed for another 16. That was the biggest mistake of my financial life!

Here's an update; I went into the crawl space looking for moisture under sinks toilet and laundry room. all seemed good, but the smell seemed strongest there so I got a plumber to look at it. Found a leak in a drain under the kitchen sink. That has been repaired, the floor under the cabinet cleaned, and charcoal placed under the sink. Also I bought an air cleaner with activated charcoal and placed in the house. I can't use an ozone generator because the tenant has nowhere to go. In any case the smell seems to be subsiding.