All Forum Posts by: Juan Rango

Mike Dymski Thank you for the response! The apples to oranges definitely makes sense. I am faced with where to park my money someday (Student loan debt). I am not looking to quit my day job like many others out there. Looking at the time commitment to stay ahead of the game has me second guessing any small rental property purchases. Syndications and investing with REITs certainly has caught my eye. If a amazing deal comes along I will certainly pull the trigger but the more I learn the more conservative my outlook.

I am a newbie so take this as a grain salt... I think that after researching it extensively most successful investors approach it as a business. I think there are different opportunities that are hands off but come with higher risk than traditional investments for a slightly better return.  Best of luck and never give up on a dream! 

Thanks @Jay Hinrichs !  The land in the path of progress is a very exciting idea to me.  I have a family friend that has cattle on a piece of property that is rapidly appreciating.  Great investment by him.  I will keep looking for deals and learning as much as I can.  It seems like the more I learn is making me want to be more conservative with my numbers up front.  Rentals seem to be on the higher risk and more involved, yet higher return side of real estate investing.  

@Daren H.  Thanks for the comment!  I love this debate.  What if your a cook investing in real estate?  You can invest in an index fund with 300-500 Fortune 500 companies that have enormous assets and experience in business.   Some of those companies have been around for 100+ years.  Alternatively you can buy 2 rental properties for the same investment you have saved up and no index funds.  Which is riskier? One side your money is with someone else and the other is an investment in yourself.  The answer to which is riskier... in my newbie opinion it is the cook who has very little time to devote to real estate and very little diversification. 

Thanks @JD Martin !   The numbers look great on a successful rental property.  I have done the numbers out and it can be really impressive.  I think that it is all about execution.  If it truly was hands off and easy there wouldn't be any investor owned rental properties for a reasonable price.  There still are many deals from investors who have tried to be hands off and failed. In my mind someone with average market knowledge can't be hands off and succeed.  It takes an incredible time investment.  Was that 2 hour deal an early deal or had you built a system over years with tons of leg work and learning?  It's a business at the end of the day and a profession if you want to be a millionaire doing it and stick around.  Sure there are exceptions to it and I hope they fall my way! 

@Kristina Heimstaedt Thanks for the detailed reply! I certainly see the possibilities of a property that both appreciates and cash flows.  I think that many successful buy and hold investors were or are still property managers at some point.  It is a job for sure.  I think it's great for the hands on investor.  I just think it takes a lots more work to beat a traditional investment than one would think after attending a guru course, or listening to all the success stories on the BP podcast. 

Being a successful active stock trader is incredibly complex.  No comparison. Funny thing is most index funds or passive funds in stocks have beat active managers.  

@Account Closed I'm sure he's biased to what he knows but the small company they have manages 500 million dollars in assets.  He's looked into REITs as a way of diversification but has not pulled the trigger on them.

As an excited newbie, I have very little experience in real estate investing so at a meeting with my financial planner I asked about house hacking as a busy professional and he stated it would be a bad idea.  This took me down from cloud 9 real estate guru excitement.  It made me really face the fact that maybe a fiduciary fee-only financial planner with 30 years of experience has some wisdom. So I thought a lot, listened to tons of BP podcasts, read forum posts, analyzed several deals, and thought of worst case and best case scenarios.  It seems that for someone who doesn't want to work an additional job that real estate investing is a bad idea and here is why... 

I think that in order to be a successful real estate investor you have to take it on as at least a part-time job putting in 10-20 hours a week to maintain an informational advantage and run the day to day of the business.  It is absolutely a business and is not hands off like other investments hence the higher returns.  We cannot predict life or the market and when you factor in time invested and the risk of the entire cash flow of a property being wiped out overnight with the wrong tenant or just a bad year for the property, it makes it much less attractive.  Some would say stocks are risky as well but if you look at things like index funds over 20 to 30 years; a 7-10% annual return for sitting on your couch certainly has me second guessing how much I would like to pour into real estate investing.

In conclusion it seems that real esate investing is a great way to become financially free if you want to quit your day job with a lot of leg work (aka a second career), or a great idea for someone who is business savy already and has the capital to start an additional business.  For a busy medical professional like myself, I am certainly having second thoughts about going "all in."  The gurus and those who are successful certainly have done it but there are many more that have failed, or over the long run have not beat traditional hands off investments and spent a significant amount of time doing so.  If anyone has studies on the success rates of the average buy and hold investor I am curious.  

PS:  I still plan on trying to find a househack as a short term means to reduce my living expenses.  I am interested in real estate investing as a means to portfolio diversification.  It's all about the deal!  Thoughts and comments are appreciated!

Thanks @Karen S. ! I look forward to exploring the city. I stayed in Oakland during my interview and drove around the city.  It looks like there is a lot of redevelopment going on. 

Thanks Anthony Angotti and Juan Maldonado It sounds like there are a lot of good options. Do you guys go to any local REIAs? I plan to get involved as much as I can when I move next summer.