All Forum Posts by: Matthew G.

Hello,

I hope all is well.

I'm in a position that a lot of people would probably love to be in, and I'm trying to figure out what the best strategy is moving forward.  Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

My wife is an NNP and has an annual W2 income of north of $200k. I own and operate my own business from home, and this year I will probably bring in $300k pre-tax. We've paid off all of our vehicles and credit cards, and basically have cash on hand and lots more coming in every month with which to invest. I always max out my Roth IRA and throw a few thousand dollars in my SEP IRA, but there's lots of extra money coming in that we're trying to decide what to do with.

I am a dual Canadian/American citizen, so I'm able to invest in either country at my leisure.  We currently reside in the Wichita area and could invest in single family homes in that location, and could basically buy one with cash right now if we wanted to.  We could also invest in new builds or single family homes in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and maybe get more of a return on investment there?  I know some friends and family in that area that have had their houses double or triple in value in the past few years.

We also own a cottage in the Muskoka, ON region and are throwing around the idea of a tear-down and rebuild in the 2000 square foot range, which would be about a million dollar investment.  It would probably be valued in the $1.5-2M range after the rebuild and we could rent it out on air b&b for 10's of thousands of dollars per year.

We're finding it very difficult to decide which direction to go in, and which order we should do things in.  We know we want to rebuild a fancy cottage on the lake that we can rent out for big money on air b&b.  We know we are interested in single family homes to buy and hold for 10+ years, we're just having a lot of trouble deciding which location would be best and which order to do things in.

Thanks in advance.  I appreciate your time.

Thanks Jake,

I sent you a message.

Hi folks,

I won't bore you with a long introduction.  Here is my situation:

My wife and I had a W2 income of approximately $230k last year.  We'll do about the same this year and every year for the foreseeable future, give or take a few thousand dollars.  We've spent the last 15 months paying off $30k in credit card debt, $90k in student loans, $10k to her parents, and are getting ready to pay off the remaining $25k on an auto loan.  After that, we'll be debt free except for our mortgage, which is approximately $90k with $25k or so in equity.  We both have credit scores north of 800.  We should have that auto loan paid off by November or December at the latest, and then we'll have $8k-$12k of income coming in every month with only a mortgage payment of $900 and a few household bills to pay from it.  Conservatively speaking, we should have $8k per month to invest.

We live in the Midwest, near Wichita, Kansas.  We've decided that buy and hold is going to be our strategy, and I believe we're going to target single family or multi family homes.  I guess the goal would be financial freedom, though I don't know that either of us are going to quit our jobs in the next 5-10 years.  We're both in our mid 30's and have 5 children together.  Ideally, by the time we're in our mid 40's, it would be nice if she could switch to a part time/casual type of work schedule and I could leave my full time job and concentrate on maintaining our real estate portfolio full time, and we could both have more time to spend with our 5 kids and eventual grandchildren.

My wife and I talk about saving a lump sum to put down on our first rental, but after spending 15 months saving and paying off debt, I am ready to start investing!  The thought of spending another 4-6 months saving for a down payment sucks, but I think we'd both prefer to put a nice chunk down ahead of time to lower the risk and to increase the cash flow.  We also would like to renovate the kitchen and a bathroom in our current home, move on to a bigger home which will be better suited for our large family and turn our current home into our first investment property.  We're not sure what the best course of action is.

I know we're in an enviable position with the high W2 income and low debt, and so I really want to spend the next 5 years making smart decisions.  I can see a bright light at the end of this tunnel if my wife and I do this the right way.  What would you do if you were in my shoes?  

Thanks guys.

Hi folks,

I hope all is well.

Does anyone know of a good financial advisor in the Wichita, Kansas area?  Perhaps one with strong real estate knowledge, but also one who can advise my wife and I on a variety of other topics, including but not limited to her 401k, stock investments, college funds/trust funds for our 5 children, etc?

I appreciate your time.

I appreciate the reply - thank you.

Hello all,

This will be my first post, and I want to apologize ahead of time if it's something that's been covered extensively already.

In choosing a Real Estate Agent, I have read books and blogs, etc., which suggest and advise me to get a referral.  Find a Real Estate Agent who has property him or herself and who is a seasoned investor.  Someone who comes highly recommended by other investors.  Ask someone at a local investor meeting, everyone suggests.

The problem I see with this (and I may well be missing something) is that if said real estate agent works with a ton of other investors, many of whom are more seasoned than I am, then when a good deal comes available and he or she hears about it, who are they going to get in touch with about it?  Me?  Or the 15 other investors he/she also works with, starting with the one he/she likes the best and/or the one he/she has been working with the longest?

I was reading a chapter in one of the Bigger Pockets books just last night and Brandon mentions that he works with 'the best real estate agent in town'.  I'd argue that that particular real estate agent probably calls Brandon first, before any of his/her other clients to give him a chance at the hot lead before telling anyone else about it.  Maybe he/she doesn't call Brandon first, but they have an agreement with another prominent investor in town where they give this person the tip first, and take a few extra dollars for their trouble?

And so I guess my question is how do I find a real estate agent that is going to prioritize me over other investors, assuming this real estate agent works with multiple other investors?  How do I get the head start?  How do I get the lead before the other investors get the lead?