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All Forum Posts by: Jim K.

Jim K. has started 78 posts and replied 5325 times.

@Marcus Auerbach

Well, the basic are pretty simple. I left Greece in 2007, just before the bottom fell out of the Greek economy, came to the USA and married a Russian/Ukrainian immigrant in 2012. Steady investing from 2012-2022 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We've seen crazy things from two of the greatest internal economic and political failures in the history of Europe. Thank God, we've been insulated from them because we live in the States, but that doesn't mean that they haven't happened to our closest friends, our families, to people we know and respect.

For us, it's impossible to overstate the security implications of seeking financial independence. I'm sure you've read my posts against the idea of investing in cryptocurrency and thinking that when the time comes to crush Bitcoin, governments will play fair. My wife and I have a privileged perspective on what governments in turmoil will do, one that includes technocratic appointed governments, capital controls, selective forced military service, and refugee crises.

We feel the same way about giving our money away. If you actually care about anything and you think a government is going to realistically do something useful about it, you'll be wrong at least eight times out of ten. In my case, it's the English-language education of the children of Greece. We plan on donating everything we own to a professional organization that I was once a board member of, one dedicated to improving English-language educational outcomes in Greece. A few million dollars in the right place, structured the right way, will go a long way to upping professional teaching standards in the ranks of Greek English-language instructors.

We are in this so that generations will benefit from what we do. There are only so many times you can turn your head away from children just like you were without the privileges of your birth being completely screwed over, being stamped defective, second-class citizens of Europe, before you realize that making this better is a useful thing to do with your life.

Riding an ebike to do many of my rounds is not being fake humble, although it would appease my heightened instincts for self-preservation. I believe it aligns with my values, and that makes me happy. Spending money on a hot car to impress my neighbors in a place like where I live and operate (just south of Pittsburgh in the Homestead area) is frankly laughable, if you know anything about Homestead, PA. I actually live in a duplex built for an heiress and remodeled by yours truly: I really can't complain about the accommodations. We have no children and my wife is now retired and also working in our business.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as vain as the next guy. But after the things I've seen, I know spending more money on fun stuff for myself will never make me happier. I grew up in poverty and then decided to become a humanities grad student: money was never important of and by itself for me. On the other hand, my brother studied computer science and has consistently used whatever money he's made to buy hotter cars and live in larger houses. Good for him, I understand why. But for me, I need two vacations a year and that's about the only thing we spend any significant amount of our money on outside our business.

Post: What is the one thing you hate doing within your REI business?

Jim K.#3 Investor Mindset ContributorPosted
  • Handyman
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Posts 5,474
  • Votes 13,788

I kind of suck at counting cash, too, come to think of it.

Quote from @Jeremiah Dunakin:
Quote from @Jim K.:
Quote from @Marcus Auerbach:

I don't know if I totally agree @Jim K. I got into real estate so I can afford things and I live in an expensive neighborhood and drive an expensive German SUV. And if you look me up on social you find out that I travel a lot and not exactly cheap. But frankly, I did that before REI too, so it is what it is and I am not going to hide it.

On the other hand, I am also not flashy. You'll find me wearing jeans and a $9 black t-shirt from Target and I am not afraid to get my hands dirty, if I can fix something on the spot with what's in my toolbag before I call a contractor.

Most tenants think that you are rich anyway, because why else would you own multiple houses? They don't know about your loans. Or care about them.

As far as they are concerned, I am one of the owners, so there is always the let me check and get back to you with an asnwer.


I long ago came to terms with the fact that I, unlike most people, didn't get into real estate to be able to afford things. I am also a pretty good handyman like you, which I didn't have to mention back in the days when this website had a DIY forum. All the same, I don't routinely carry enough tools in toolbags big enough in th SUv we use for rounds to solve every problem I have the tools to solve. Usually, my tool job boxes and cases are at whatever local project house we're renovating, and I get my tools together for maintenance jobs there. The first time I go look at a reported maintenance problem, I'm not usually carrying more than a backpack worth of tools and equipment, which I can take with me on the ebike.

When a tenant thinks you own multiple houses, you're pretty much OK. It's when they know you own multiple apartment buildings, I've found, that they start to have stranger and stranger opinions. Especially multiple affordable-housing apartment buildings.

If I may be so bold to ask? If you didn’t get into real estate to be able to afford things, then why did you get into it? I’m curious as to other’s motivations besides money aspect of it. One of the first times I’ve ever heard someone that. Me personally I do not do it to get rich I look at it as a small business that is a gateway to being independent of someone else controlling my life, basically a part of financial freedom. It helps me make some money each month and in the long run I will be able to retire earlier and live a comfortable life. Not an extravagant life but able to buy a pizza on Friday night with the family. I don’t want a real estate empire. I want to be able to be comfortable. 

I got into it to be able to give a lot of money away. Hopefully one of these days I'll tell my story on the Money Podcast. When I was young, I thought had the luxury of picking my own battles and fighting them in my own way. I know now that some battles find you and you just can't live with yourself if you don't fight them.

Quote from @Marcus Auerbach:

I don't know if I totally agree @Jim K. I got into real estate so I can afford things and I live in an expensive neighborhood and drive an expensive German SUV. And if you look me up on social you find out that I travel a lot and not exactly cheap. But frankly, I did that before REI too, so it is what it is and I am not going to hide it.

On the other hand, I am also not flashy. You'll find me wearing jeans and a $9 black t-shirt from Target and I am not afraid to get my hands dirty, if I can fix something on the spot with what's in my toolbag before I call a contractor.

Most tenants think that you are rich anyway, because why else would you own multiple houses? They don't know about your loans. Or care about them.

As far as they are concerned, I am one of the owners, so there is always the let me check and get back to you with an asnwer.


I long ago came to terms with the fact that I, unlike most people, didn't get into real estate to be able to afford things. I am also a pretty good handyman like you, which I didn't have to mention back in the days when this website had a DIY forum. All the same, I don't routinely carry enough tools in toolbags big enough in th SUv we use for rounds to solve every problem I have the tools to solve. Usually, my tool job boxes and cases are at whatever local project house we're renovating, and I get my tools together for maintenance jobs there. The first time I go look at a reported maintenance problem, I'm not usually carrying more than a backpack worth of tools and equipment, which I can take with me on the ebike.

When a tenant thinks you own multiple houses, you're pretty much OK. It's when they know you own multiple apartment buildings, I've found, that they start to have stranger and stranger opinions. Especially multiple affordable-housing apartment buildings.

Quote from @Henry T.:

I would love to get an e-bike except for all of these cars on the road. I don't know about other towns, but Seattle drivers are nuts. You may dress down for your tenants (no problem for a vagrant like me), but you're still a property owner. According to our city council, if you're a landlord you are "evil".  This is the thinking around here. Seattletimes runs lengthy articles about landlord greed and the cost of housing, as property taxes skyrocket(which isn't mentioned). The fix is in and dress is the least of my concerns.


 That's a big part of operating in Pittsburgh, too. I've avoided most of it but not all. The really big difference comes when you start buying and operating multifamily with commercial loans. Your tenant who lives in the same duplex as you so simply will never look at you the same as the tenant who lives in your multifamily.

Quote from @Scott Mac:

Why pedal when you can just ride?

I know a guy who used to ride one of these and loved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnwDCR0innE

If I wanted a small scooter I'd get one. The bike appeals to me in a way a scooter does not.


Quote from @JD Martin:
Quote from @Jim K.:

One of the things I learned early in this business is that the best thing to seen as by tenants is as a capable yet non-threatening entity. I actually learned it from my experiences as a tenant myself, in college and grad-school rental housing. There nothing more annoying than a landlord who doesn't follow the well-known "covenant of quiet enjoyment," which means that under normal circumstances a landlord should always give a tenant 24 hours of notice before he shows up and bangs on the door. Add to that a landlord who shows up driving a flashy car and dressed to the nines, and you have a clear starter recipe for rental nonpayment problems and a bag of concrete flushed down the toilet as a parting gift by an evicted tenant. The disrespectful, uncaring, arrogant, and contemptuous landlord always gets his in the end, one way or another.

So early on in my rental property business, I formulated "Jim's Law," and I have lived by it successfully since. If you are anywhere that your tenants could possibly see you out and about, you must never out-dress, out-drive, or out-crib them. Living in a very modest home compared to your net worth is more important in some places than others, I suppose, but I live within four or five miles of almost all my tenants and my county's website clearly gives the location of where their tax and sewer bills are sent, so unless I invest in a post office box and an LLC, I shouldn't live in a McMansion with a lawyer foyer, a garage mahal, and a turret.

If you want to wear nice shoes, designer clothing, or lots of jewelry, go on vacation in another country. Rent a hot car at their airport. Tell everyone you own four times more rentals than you do and they're eight times more profitable than they actually are. Hell, everyone else is doing it.

But my question to the community today has to do with e-bikes and bicycles. I've found myself absolutely intrigued by the idea of getting around this town on an ebike. Has anyone ever tried this and had it backfire on them?

@Scott Trench, the former CEO of this website, tells an amazing story of riding his bike to work and being accosted by a Ford F-150 driver who automatically assumes Trench is poor because he's on a bike. Has anyone else had things like this happen to them, especially as a landlord/property manager working with tenants? I'd love to hear your stories.


 I don't know how it looks, but it's dangerous in my area with narrow mountain roads and no shoulders. Beyond that, not having a vehicle means you can't even do any minor work on a property if you happen to be there. My truck is a rolling toolbox, with a camper top on the back, and I can often take care of minor issues right on the spot when I make rounds. For that reason I wouldn't do it. 

Beyond that, going around on a bike is going to be differentiating yourself from your tenant, opposite of what you're trying to do. Most tenants have a car and drive everywhere because they have to go to work and pick up kids and buy groceries and do a lot of things that are just logistically simpler with a vehicle. 


 Food for thought, JD. Thank you.

One of the things I learned early in this business is that the best thing to seen as by tenants is as a capable yet non-threatening entity. I actually learned it from my experiences as a tenant myself, in college and grad-school rental housing. There nothing more annoying than a landlord who doesn't follow the well-known "covenant of quiet enjoyment," which means that under normal circumstances a landlord should always give a tenant 24 hours of notice before he shows up and bangs on the door. Add to that a landlord who shows up driving a flashy car and dressed to the nines, and you have a clear starter recipe for rental nonpayment problems and a bag of concrete flushed down the toilet as a parting gift by an evicted tenant. The disrespectful, uncaring, arrogant, and contemptuous landlord always gets his in the end, one way or another.

So early on in my rental property business, I formulated "Jim's Law," and I have lived by it successfully since. If you are anywhere that your tenants could possibly see you out and about, you must never out-dress, out-drive, or out-crib them. Living in a very modest home compared to your net worth is more important in some places than others, I suppose, but I live within four or five miles of almost all my tenants and my county's website clearly gives the location of where their tax and sewer bills are sent, so unless I invest in a post office box and an LLC, I shouldn't live in a McMansion with a lawyer foyer, a garage mahal, and a turret.

If you want to wear nice shoes, designer clothing, or lots of jewelry, go on vacation in another country. Rent a hot car at their airport. Tell everyone you own four times more rentals than you do and they're eight times more profitable than they actually are. Hell, everyone else is doing it.

But my question to the community today has to do with e-bikes and bicycles. I've found myself absolutely intrigued by the idea of getting around this town on an ebike. Has anyone ever tried this and had it backfire on them?

@Scott Trench, the former CEO of this website, tells an amazing story of riding his bike to work and being accosted by a Ford F-150 driver who automatically assumes Trench is poor because he's on a bike. Has anyone else had things like this happen to them, especially as a landlord/property manager working with tenants? I'd love to hear your stories.

Post: Thank you, BiggerPockets! On to a New Chapter

Jim K.#3 Investor Mindset ContributorPosted
  • Handyman
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Posts 5,474
  • Votes 13,788

Oh, it's time, Scotty. Hate to see you go, glad to know you're riding off into the sunset. You certainly helped change my life. And I still want to do the Money Podcast eventually and try to explain the connections between radical political instability and personal financial independence, from the perspective of having a family caught in the Greek debt crisis.

Post: Dealing with habitually late tenant

Jim K.#3 Investor Mindset ContributorPosted
  • Handyman
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Posts 5,474
  • Votes 13,788
Quote from @Andy Sabisch:
Quote from @Jim K.:

OK, so I do live and operate in PA.

I do a five-day late period, and then a late fee of $100. After fifteen days, the late fee goes up to $200.

This frees us both from all kinds of BS.

@Scott Mac is making some important points above about turnover kills cash flow, but a lot of this garbage goes out the door if you insist on their declaring and your verifying at least 2.5x gross income before they move in. You have to start with a tenant who can, actually, pay.

@Jules Aton and @Remington Lyman are also making valuable points here about late fees. I agree there is something immoral about taking a tenant on knowing that you'll be steadily charging them a late fee every month because they simply don't make enough to afford paying the rent on time. But when you've verified their income and they still have trouble, a late fee can be used as a powerful corrective measure to get people on track, and, believe it or not, once in a great while you'll meet someone who appreciates it (they won't be your tenant long).


 Jim, Great points.  To be honest our screening has avoided all but one tenant (plus this one) being a problem.  In fact this one moved out under the cover of darkness and while there was some stuff left and damage to address, they are out and we are only short one month rent before we find another tenant.  It is surprising that even when you have a tenant making good money that some feel that rent is the last thing to pay . . . 


Andy, some times you just can't win. Some people are just prone to self-destructive cycles, and they just can't find a way. It's six more months, and that's all she wrote. At least this isn't COVID, when so many of us were forced to house tenant-parasites for so many months.