All Forum Posts by: Lane Mcdonald

Being only about a year into my investing career I'm still very green and don't have many re investing relationships other than my loan officer and realtor. I hear and read time and time again that it is very beneficial to be in the same room as people that are where you want to be financially but I don't know how to make that happen exactly. First of all, my town and the ones surrounding are pretty small and don't have much for events for these types of people often enough to make a huge difference. I have contacts with a couple of bigger investors in my area that I would like to get in touch with, but I fear I have little to offer for their time. I'd like to think most people are kind and would give me the time of day but from their prospective I'm just some 19yo kid who's going to waste their time. Even if they did give me the time of day it doesn't seem very fair that I can't offer much to them in return. I know it's not all about the tradeoffs, but I also don't just want to be a leach to them. Any advice would be appreciated! :)

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $120,000
Cash invested: $12,000

My old residence, I moved to a different home to get better financing options to make this one a rental. I initially got into this home with no money but have done renovations.

I feel like the obvious answer to this question is to get rid of the debt, right? but the $7000 to pay off the vehicle will only save me about $600 in interest whereas investing that 7k into another home or renovations, like adding a new bathroom to my current 3bed 1bath home, would yield way more than the money saved. Considering that I'm going for most return I feel like I should use that money elsewhere. It would be nice to get rid of the $200 a month charge but at the end the numbers don't change much on total spent.

I've heard time and time again that real estate will out preform retirement. Though it's hard to deny the fact that Roth Ira's are 100% tax free after 69.5. Getting into real estate I'm wondering if I should continue to max out my Roth IRA or stop and go all in on real estate instead and forget retirement. Or maybe there's a good middle ground to shoot for instead, or even a totally different option. I also have a 401k that my 9-5 does a 5% match on so I do 5% just to get that basically free money as well. Any and all suggestions would be excellent!

Just one at the moment with no property manager, I'd like to do as much as I can myself until it gets to be too much to handle.

I'm just starting out, about to close on my first deal. Wondering if it's necessary to have a professional to the accounting work as to not mess it up for tax reasons. Or is it manageable by the owner and not worth it. I'd rather do it myself but worry the consequences of messing up as I'm still new. Thanks!