All Forum Posts by: Jason Chen

A good tip may be to come home having a bad day and say "this wouldn't have happened if we were financially free". Somewhere between 43-56 times of doing that, it usually kicks in and you're set. 

Another option is understanding that you can't force a fish to climb a tree. It appears as if you're communicating in a way that really only you understand. I'm afraid the more you push it, the more she may be inclined to turn away. I invite you to communicate by demonstrating how your goals are aligned. An example is asking her what is her dream home. She will talk it over then say that you are doing what you feel is the best way to get you both there. You are doing what you know is the best way to accomplish her vision. Explain that although it looks messy right now, the road to get there is the same. 

You have to remember that we aren't taught financial literacy in schools. We aren't taught to invest. We are told to go to school, work for someone else, have a nice home and you're golden. You're breaking the mold and what people are typically growing up believing. I can't tell you how many people laughed when I said I wanted to buy homes. Sometimes approaching it from different angles or in a way she understands gets better results.

I think everyone here will give you their advice, but this all comes down to your comfort level. Every investor I've ever spoken to has made mistakes along the way, we all do. I personally feel the more education you have in a field the more comfortable you are at taking risks. I learned the biggest lessons from a flip I did a few years ago and it was my "college education" on what not to do. 

Start attending meetup groups, start speaking to others who've already invested in the market you're trying to get into. The great thing about making mistakes at 19/20 years old is that you don't have family responsibilities yet. 

@Jason Chen@Quang Tran I am also 19, about to be 20 and I couldn't take another second of that ******** that they were teaching in College. It was my 3rd semester and I was sitting in calc 3 class (majoring in Engineering) and it was a 4 1/2 hour class and I remember literally getting up during our 10 minute break and telling the teacher that all this stuff that she was teaching was absolutely pointless and that it wouldn't help anyone in the real world. I went home dropped my classes and decided to do something else. At the time I was still working at a 5 star restaurant for 70 hours a week, I was saving every penny I had and investing a lot into the stock market and trading. I made a good chunk of money trading a couple of stocks I got lucky on finding but I also lost a lot. I decided to start wholesaling in September of last year and I wholesaled 3 properties in the course of 2 months. I quickly figured out that wholesaling was also not too fun because you can work a lead for quite sometime and it can lead to nothing. (though I was only doing it for 2 months, it sometimes felt like I was working a lead for years...) So then I started to flip. I had maybe a couple thousand dollars in the bank account, most of it I always park into the Stock market and I never pull out now because I don't want to get capital gains taxed, and I started to look for someone to partner with on my first deal.

This was all about a year ago... Since that time, I have done 5 wholesale deals, and completed 8 flips in collaboration with my partner. I am still 19. I am turning 20 in 3 days.... It was one of the riskiest decisions I made in my life and I had to put my everything on the line, if I didn't perform on my first flip and didn't stand up to my work for the people that vouched for me to the lenders and investors, that would of been the end of my real estate career. But now, everyone that at first didn't trust me, now are coming back to me to do business because of the volume that I am doing. All my guys that work for me (framer, siding, roofer, tile, kitchen, hvac, plumber.. Etc..) they all give me excellent prices on the labor for my jobs. I get better prices than most of the guys that have been doing this for years. 

With that being said, I am very lucky, I can't say I am not because I am that God chose me to be in the position I am in now. I am starting to market my company and advertise and brand my name, to start something new that will be built into a huge corporation one day doing millions in revenue a year. I have a big picture in the my mind, and that is the one thing that a lot of people don't have. They are afraid to take the risk that I took, they don't like to be outside of their comfort zone. Trust me, you will work, I work 18-19 hours a day. I wake up at 6, get to the sites, go to meetings, come home at 5 go to the gym, come back at 630, shower, eat, and by the time I sit down to do emails, marketing, instagram, mailers, BP, it's 2 am and it's time to sleep for a little bit. But that's part of the thing if you are trying to get to the scale that I am at. I mean its 10:15 now and I still have so much to get thru today before I go to sleep. 

Growing a company is no BS, you will work like a dog, but it will be worth at the end. I first hand experienced people screwing me and learned to deal with people like that. If you have ANY questions at all. please reach out to me. I will answer anything that you have to ask, I will let you know how I overcame problems you are facing.. I will lead in the right direction, I will make sure that you don't make the same mistakes I did throughout my process that will hold you back. Please connect with me, I am always hear for anyone. 

I'm in @Jason Chen 's camp. He's giving you a solid advice, albeit not very PC (at all).  If you proceed with your plan, there is a very good chance she will end up resenting you for it and this will only deteriorate your relationship further.  Unless she just has an epiphany one day and "gets it".  You're in a tough spot, and unless you guys can communicate properly, this will most likely not work. You've already mentioned several other things you don't see eye-to-eye on: student loans, superficial (expensive) things she desires in a house, and just general business acumen is a polar opposite. I bet she sees no problem spending hundreds of dollars on hair products a month, tho? (this is a stereotypical assumption meant only as a joke)

"Happy wife, happy life" is not only a cliche, it should no longer work these days. What's with men being so gladly subordinate to women? Ain't it a solid 50/50 these days? C'mon, guys, take your basketballs out of that purse and run some hoops on your own.

I'm in @Jason Chen 's camp. He's giving you a solid advice, albeit not very PC (at all).  If you proceed with your plan, there is a very good chance she will end up resenting you for it and this will only deteriorate your relationship further.  Unless she just has an epiphany one day and "gets it".  You're in a tough spot, and unless you guys can communicate properly, this will most likely not work. You've already mentioned several other things you don't see eye-to-eye on: student loans, superficial (expensive) things she desires in a house, and just general business acumen is a polar opposite. I bet she sees no problem spending hundreds of dollars on hair products a month, tho? (this is a stereotypical assumption meant only as a joke)

"Happy wife, happy life" is not only a cliche, it should no longer work these days. What's with men being so gladly subordinate to women? Ain't it a solid 50/50 these days? C'mon, guys, take your basketballs out of that purse and run some hoops on your own.

Lindsey , my number one rule for REI " cash flow is king" . Even if you follow 50% expense rules , it is still a negative cash flow deal. Worse case scenario you want to break even. I would try to negotiate. Minimum I want to make $150 profit per door per month which is doable here in atlanta.Good luck.