All Forum Posts by: Tom Cyr

 Certainly each investor has their own business model and network of contractors.  That will spell various levels of expenses to deduct from the gross rent.  But even seasoned landlords face the unavoidable expenses of property management, taxes, insurance, maintenance, cap ex.  Some landlords don't make anything but believe that the passive profit ship will come in one day.  Other very efficient landlords can squeeze 15% out.  

Successful and happy are relative terms.  The toddler is happy in the baby pool.  The six yr old is happy with his training wheels.  The secretary is happy with her job and her stock market retirement plan.  The senior is happy her 5-yr CD paying 1%.  The bottom line is that income property is a lot of work, especially for the novice.  For some people, 10% ROR makes it all worth it.  

For those who know much higher yield, it's not nearly enough.  A major determiner of an investor being happy with portfolio returns is their awareness and appreciation of better opportunities elsewhere.  The comfort zone is amazing box to be in.  We justify our actions based on a belief system.  It keeps us where we are.  Don't most of us tell ourselves that a different opportunity may either be too high a risk or too good to be true?  The 1%ers  appreciate the mental obstacles insulating them from greater competition.  

For the person making 5% on their rental, they may see wholesaling as a very risky proposition where they could burn $2K or more on a marketing campaign only to make just $2K on the contract assignment.   And they lay awake at night stressing over getting a contract and not being able to assign it.  How many ex-wholesalers could give that testimony?  And even if one has a very sophisticated system to feed seller leads, they know wholesaling is just another J.O.B.  It's active and investors want passive.

So this author is sharing their experience using their very successful wholesaling business.  It's a valid comparison.  Good job getting your numbers up on the board.  But the story is not over.  Now tell us how you are investing your profits so you can work your way out of your active job.  All that wholesaling does is create profits to either pay living expenses or put to work in an INVESTMENT.

Welcome to BP Jacob.  I'm also in DFW and left the defense industry in 2011 to pursue full time investing.  I'm at your service.

I've been buying and selling real estate for more than 30 years without a loss.  Most of that time was as a sideline to my engineering job.  Since 2011, I have been a full time investor.  Since I invest my family's funds, which are limited, my goal is to always seek higher yields with calculated or lower risk.  Some say that what I achieve is too good to be true.    Last year I diversified some of the funds out of real estate now that it has become overvalued.

I found BP through a Google search of an under performing company I got involved with called Asset Ventures who does their best to modify delinquent second mortgages.  Bless their hearts though, they really struggle with getting positive results that experienced note investors achieve routinely.  

This looks like a terrific community of entrepreneurs.  I like Lance Edward's (apartment guru from Houston) distinction between entrepreneurs and investors.  He defines investing as putting our money to work.  Many in real estate "investing" don't have any money but put their knowledge to work and use other people's money to support the deal.  I didn't find that distinction all that helpful until I started to help true investors put their money to work in high yield projects.  

Real estate is unique in that one can create significant capital out of nothing but knowledge.  As long as the capital grown out of an equity creation exceeds ones living expenses, one can accumulate capital to later deploy in an "investment."  If the growth doesn't materialize though, all we've done is exchange one job for another.  

My goal is to compound my family's fortune and use the wealth to make a difference in the world spreading virtue and gospel values.   I also want to leverage my experience and connections to help other advanced investors who want to do the same with their riches.