Careful...i realized after writing this it turned into a therapy session 😀
I came here to learn from others who have done more then I have. I am topped out on what I am able to do on my own, yet do not know how to move forward, so I feel as thou I should reduce my portfolio.
i currently have 19 buildings with 40 units mixed throughout houses, duplexes, and apartment buildings. I manage all of them myself. I am able to do most any repair besides HVAC repairs and electrical repairs that are complicated.
i am 56 years old and am either looking to scale my business so much that i am no longer hands on, or else begin to sell off the properties and move the proceeds to "true" passive income positions.
Althou I have 40 units, 6 of them are in various stages of mostly being totally rehabbed. As I mentioned, I do almost all of the work myself, so along with spending my days at one of these units I get the occasional repair call where I lose a day or two working on the rehabbing of the units.
i began this journey in the belief that I could get out of the "rat race", but all I have seemed to do is move to a different wheel of it. (I say this while I am eating breakfast at 10am at one of my favorite restaurants, so I know I do have certain perks with this type of job that others that work a regular job do not). None the less, this is a job and not exactly what I thought I was working towards, or want.
i began rehabbing property about 21 years ago as a way to stay busy during the summer time when i wasn't teaching. Up until about 8 years ago it was just a hobby on the side and at that time i owned 6 units. After i quit teaching because i felt like the black sheep in the district, (i turned the principal at my school in for cheating on the Illnois state test) i crunched numbers, read books, and realized that real estate was a way to wealth i would not otherwise be able to obtain.
For a bit, it was a very "powerful" feeling. I bought and bought and bought, until I over bought and am in the situation I am in now with 6 places in various stages on being rehabbed and unable to be rented or sold for the time being. (My method of operation/profit has been to buy property that needs a lot of rehabbing, cheap. Then, do the work myself, and raise rents significantly.
That's part of my story! If you can't tell by this therapy session I just wrote, I'm tired. If you've read this far, you probably have had some type of similar experience. If so, where are you now? Did you find a way to scale your business? My banker would continue to let me buy, buy, buy. I have very low "bad debt" and a lot of equity i could use for cross collateral. However, without knowing how to successfully scale, I am stuck...in this rat race...still.
