All Forum Posts by: James Murphey

 What is the main differences? 

I feel like that is the reason we are here so we do not have to pay that amount of money.  Josh Dorkin created Bigger Pockets for that reason.   I would try to use all of the information on this site first.  Does the mentor have market specific information? The mistakes made with that money would be a valuable learning information.  Let us know what you decide.  Hope this helps.  

@Jacob GraulI think 10k a month should be enough for a family to live on in the south.  120k a year taxed at 15% plus state tax of 2-5%.   You would easily clear enough for a family to live a moderate lifestyle.  I really like the debt snowball, and plan to do something similar myself.  Coach Chad Carson has a great philosophy of go small or go home.  In one of his podcast he describes 3 families vacationing.  At one point they are having such a great time the families decide to extend their stays.  Only one family is able to do this because they have a small handful of paid off rentals.  The others have big portfolios, and business that require their constant attention.  Those families with the high net-worth, and big portfolios have to go home to manage their businesses.  I think your philosophy in debt snowballing is great.  As far as being afraid of retirement.  As a teacher having summers off can be difficult if you have no hobbies.  I hear many of my teachers friends wishing school would start back sooner. They do not know what to do with themselves.  Many people that only have work as their hobby will make the excuse to work forever.  It is hard to have free time when a person does not know  what to do with themselves.  I think it is important to develop hobbies and goals outside of becoming financially free or hitting some kind of number. I hope this helps I would suggest reading Lifeonnare, and of course Mr. Money Mustaches blog.  He talks about this subject extensively.  

Good question.  I would think it would depend on the demographic of that area usually.  If the area is next to a college. I would not worry as much about it, as you will probably be renting to students, professors, and grad students. If average age of the population is 40s and the industry of the town is usually something that allows people to have a family. I would be more concerned with the school situation.  In more family oriented towns, it seems like a huge deal.   People usually paying rent are more concerned with saving money in the short run then which I would think make them less concerned with schools, but no parent wants to send their child to a school with a bad reputation.  There are a lot of variables to consider in this question.    

 Kyle beat me to it.  I was going to share this also.  If you can do the calculations, and you are earning close to Graham these write offs are pretty ridiculous.  I would usually be with the mindset of getting something with no debt, and keeping it forever, but Graham makes a compelling case for buying it, and using the write-offs.  

 That is a great point.  I am thinking the same way.  While I love my job.  It stress me out to hear people say I only have 15, 20, 30 more years then I can hope social security, and the state retirement will take care of me.  Seems very risky to me.  I want more control even if it means more struggle upfront, but more security in the long run.  

@Matt Ferch I am in the same boat.  I believe I have my niche sorted out at this point.  It is obvious you need knowledge about your niche, but I think it is also very important to consider the struggle.  Everyone wants to be a millionaire with G6, (insert wildest dreams here), etc, but most people are not willing to suffer to get to this point.  Know what level of suffering you are willing to go to.  In Mark Manson's book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k he describe wanting to be a rockstar, but not wanting to practice for hours and hours, also not wanting to play at gigs no one goes to, or setting up and breaking down the equipment.  I think for me when I think about how I am going to invest, I think about the level of suffering I am willing to endure.  Am I willing to manage the property?  Do I want to run the rehab?  So many people have great success in business, but they sacrifice health, and family in the process because they never considered the cost.  Another great book to read before you get started is Lifeonnare. Hope this helps.  Let us know what you decide to do. 

@Alex Jones I am going to be referencing this book when I start I investing. It would have been easy for David to take some checklist, spreadsheets, and other process in the book wrap them up and sell them for several thousands of dollars in some course or boot camp. This book has given me the confidence I feel I need to invest majority of my money in the BRRRR process. It is easy to read a blog post about BRRRRing, but I need a book to feel confident enough to start making the leap.

@Account Closed I agree with most of the books mentioned so far. I for Real Estate love Set for Life, BRRRR, Retire Early with Real Estate, and Land Lording on Autopilot. As for mindset and motivation I really like Can't Hurt Me, The Obstacle is The Way, and Ego is The Enemy.

I think gentrification is great. It is great when it turns a high crime neighborhood into an up and coming neighborhood that has young professionals bringing money into the community and small business there. It provides many benefits to the community, and opportunities for real estate appreciation, and investors to make a great return. I also think it is horrible. When the property taxes are so high a family can not afford to pay the taxes on a home they own. This is not right or fair. People being displaced from a community they lived in for multiple generations because they are unable to afford the cost of living in that area. It is a complicated issues with no right answer. Just less sh**ty answers.This is a very interesting post.  I think gentrification like empires, capitalism, Marxism, democracy, and many other ideas is not inherently good or bad.  We like to think of things in simple terms, and see only one side of an issue so we can pick our team and voice the "issue."  But things are rarely that simple.