All Forum Posts by: Marcus Johnson

There really is no secret to investing in the stock market.  The S&P 500 has average 11% approximately.   

http://www.moneychimp.com/features/market_cagr.htm

Investing is actually quite boring and not exciting like an Athlete or Celebrity who make millions and buy new cars and fancy homes. Using any compound interest calculator, it will show you that if you max out a Roth IRA for 30 years in the S&P 500 index fund from Vanguard each month which is $458, you'll have amassed 1.2 million if you just achieve the average return. So there really isn't anymore to it then just depositing monthly for 30 years and you'll be just fine.

Did you feel this way when the housing bubble crashed and your properties weren't worth anywhere near what you had invested?   But they have come back almost to where they were in 2006.   So really you didn't gain anything in equity over that 8 year span.  I know I didn't.  I bought a home in 2006 for 224k and just sold it for 220k.   This was my primary and luckily we had paid off around 60k and got that money back.  

All markets are reciprocal so what your worrying about isn't necessary so long as your have minimal debt and are diversified.  Trust me if your in it for the long haul, then the sky isn't falling.  

@David Moore  I did mention the whole house in addition to the garage.   I tried stripping and painting two decks last spring and we had record rainfall, like 30 inches so it really delayed my progress and I work a full time job.   I will get it done as fast as I can, I was just hoping for more time.   We are selling our primary in March and buying right after that.  It's going to be a fun Spring.

@Marcia Maynard I find it interesting though that the city would want a better product than a rushed products so that the paint can properly dry which is usually July and August in this part of the country. I've live here for 40 years and it usually rains or snows in april, May and June. I'll just work with the city to get an extension if need be. They did seem flexible.

On December 10, 2014 I had an inspection done on the duplex I purchased back in May 2014 by the City of Minneapolis due to a change in ownership.  The inspector passed the interior, but he said that I should paint the garage and the exterior of the house, but to not worry that I would have 5 years to complete that.   When I get home from vacation there is a letter in the mail from the city stating a code violation and that the city requires me to paint the garage and house by May 31st, 2015.   Not sure if they know it, but that leaves me almost no time to get the job done since we live in Minnesota and last year it snowed until May and then rained until the end of June.  

So I called the inspector and the city and after numerous calls he finally returned one of mine and left a voicemail that if I'm unable to get it done by that time period they will automatically extend the deadline.  My first question is what are they thinking when they give a deadline such as that when really it leaves me like 2 weeks to get it done and that since May and June are so rainy why wouldn't they give me until July or August?   Do they think I'm going to paint in January, February, March or even April?   Anyone have experience with the City of Minneapolis?

Not sure what to say.  

@Travis H. Yes that process would take some time to gain traction, but eventually your properties will starting generating enough income on their own that you'll be able to buy more from your NOI and not have to save up your own cash. It requires more patience that way, but the reward is great.