All Forum Posts by: JJ Conway

Remember, hiring a PM does not equal a passive investment. It might in the eyes of the taxman, but you still have to "manage the manager" and understand the numbers of your business

As a well-compensated financial planner, I would certainly recommend looking for a fee-only financial planner (especially one with the CFP designation that abides by a code to put your best interest first). But I doubt you'll get someone with the expertise you need to do this for you at no charge. So the best way to get someone to do this is to compensate them at their rate.

 You say you're willing to compensate, but then express frustration with them wanting to make money.So what I'm hearing is, "I'm willing to compensate them for their time but not at the level at which THEY value their time."

I used to give away a lot of time helping people for free because of my big heart. I no longer give away my time for people who don't value my time as much as I do.

Now I'm a full-time investor and entrepreneur, work when I feel like it, and if someone isn't willing to compensate me enough from taking time away from my family and priorities to help them one-on-one, then they are always welcome to jump on my weekly free calls and ask their questions that way.

However, if you are strapped for cash and can't afford the rates of the gurus/successful investors/whoever that you want to mentor you, then perhaps you need to look for non-monetary ways to be of value to THEM first. Put yourself on their agenda before expecting them to put you on theirs.

Quote from @Valerie Post:

@JJ Conway No, I meant to tag you! :-) Dave Ramsey has a debt-free mindset and Robert Kiyosaki is all about leveraging debt. 

 OOps sorry, I didn't see this til now. I love Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant book and the Cashflow-4-kids game, but that's as far as I go with him because, as you say, he's big on leveraging debt. I recommend my clients avoid debt unless they have substantial enough holdings that they can immediately pay off whatever they're trying to leverage "because the math works."

The math always works, but people don't live by math. Which is why they come to me 100s of dollars in debt and ready to aggressively work my plan to be financially independent in 7-12 years.

@Valerie Post You may have meant to tag someone else. I don't balance the two approaches. I follow a debt-free lifestyle and teach others how to do the same. Including their investing and business building. Congratulations on getting your start in real estate investing -  the market is a bit tough right now, but they are projecting many, many great deals in the net couple of years

Hey @Brian Mackey sorry I'm just now seeing this - need to pay better attention to the BiggerPockets alerts :-)

YES! I have done very well with the Tax Certs, and this summer I'll have 2 that mature. The rest have made good interest. The problem will be getting full ownership once those mature - I've interviewed some lawyers, but it's a small town with only a handful of players, and I don't have much volume to really "wedge" my way into those relationships. 

How have you been doing in the months since you posted this?

@Marcus Johnson

I teach investing in real estate without taking on debt. It is a very unpopular opinion, but it works.  For those in the thread above (I haven't finished reading it, admittedly) who say it's impossible for the "Average American" to invest in real estate without debt that's not true. I've taught many people how.  You start small (or with non-debt activities like wholesaling or deal-making) and work your way up. 

I started investing this way after the market crashed at the same time as my divorce, leaving me with over $845K divorce debt.  Most of that was from over-leveraged properties such as the house owed $405K that was now only worth $180K and not federally backed so I couldn't take advantage of the assistance programs.  NEVER AGAIN!

@Ned Carey Has taught me so much about tax liens. IDK why it's not letting me "Tag" him

Normally manage my own properties, but was going on military deployment so had a property manager for a particular one. Big mistake: Failing to evict immediately, and trusting the PM...turned out they were in collusion and I lost out on almost $6K. When I got back home, PM wouldn’t return calls / emails. I tracked down his home address and sat outside for a day waiting someone to come in or out of his home. I never did get ahold of him, but did receive keys in the mail 2 days later.

I just got notified that I earned 28% on my latest tax certificate, plus 5% on subsequent taxes I paid.

As someone who teaches tax certificate investing, I know intellectually that most investors get the interest not the property from these transactions. But still, I was hoping to get this property because it would have made an excellent training center.

The good news is, not only did I earn MASSIVE PASSIVE INCOME on this one, but I have several others in the queue that will also make good training centers!

If you would like to learn my unique style of real estate investing, please check out my Real Estate Investing 101 course at BuildingWealthTogether.com

Is it local (or close enough) that you can take it in to your local tax assessor's office? Or, if not, can you track down the local office number to call them?  That's where I would start (with the caveat that I'd rather not call the number on the letter itself if you think it is suspicious).