All Forum Posts by: Jason Schmidt

i agree with you all to an extent. The problem is that the appreciation is not liquid - ie i cannot live off of it. Appreciation around here tends to be slow ... rather up to about 3% from what I hear max generally. Here is what I see:

if i get $1m in properties for my $100k, say, that is at about 10 properties then I have to deal with interest, multiple tenants, I need to be more "savvy" for investing sake and more "active". It also means that while 3% of 1m is $30k a year, it isn't something I can touch, so to speak. If I can buy outright 2 properties for just a bit more, then I don't have to be as involved, don't have to really be "on the look out" all the time for the best deals, and it would produce cash right now. The liability is severly limited because I don't have to worry about if 2 or 3 tenants skip out. if 3 skip out, that means that I would have to pay carrying costs of $3k a month or so.

I must say, I do see the benefit of buying more at once, but it just seems like it will be taking more time out of my life to run my own business.

Hi Ben,
I was not planning on doing an LLC for each. My main concern is that I don't want a large lump of money to ever just be "gone". So whether it is under its own LLC or not, it 'd still be my money at stake at that point.

I am very happy to know that I am not alone! My main issue with this is that it seems very, very, very inactive. As if I am not doing anything. I am buckling down though. At 28 years old, if all goes well (knock on wood!) I should be FI in the next decade. That is if I stay on track.

My methodology is very very conservative. A lot more conservative than many here. Most are using other peoples money, and taking equity out of houses to buy another, etc. I just really don't want to get to a point where i have 20 rental properties, all with lots of debt - if each flowed $200 a month, that would be $4,000 a month and thats great! But I couldn't imagine the headaches.

I own my own business, and am planning on paying off my house before I get the next. The next house I hope I will be able to get for $80k or so with 20k built in equity and pay it off like mad over the course of a year or 2. This way I could have $800 or so cash flow and live house payment free. Then keep doing it until my residuals are met. This should take about 5-6 properties and I would be done in maybe 10 years.

This is my exit strategy. If my own business dries up, I don't want to have massive amounts of debt to the point my back breaks. I also want to get to FI the quickest way possible. That means to me, living simply and shoveling as much green into real estate, one house at a time.

Is anyone tracking with me here? Who else is doing this? Who thinks this is smart? Who thinks this is ridiculous?

it looks like they are getting it straight from the mls website. If the comps are true, does that mean that it is possible these folks are legit?

I said this in another post, but to say again, I am a business owner who makes decent money. My goal is to be prepared in case something catastrophic occurs in my industry. In short: the quicker way to financial independence, the better.

I hope to pay off my primary residence in about a year and a half, then move to a home that I can pay off in a year.

By my numbers, having 2 houses paid off should bring me $1800 cash flow each month. If all goes well, this should be acheived by June, 2011 (2 1/2 years). This of course, requires for my business to continue to run well, and for me to find the "right" deal.

With $1800 monthly cashflow, I would feel comfortable with purchasing 2 more homes of similar size as the previous two, without risking too much in the way of house payments if multiples are vacant. in 18 months, I hope to pay off these 2, and have 3600 in cash flow each month.

So, this is my 4 year plan. I have residuals by another means of $2,000 elsewhere, so this seems to be my quickest way to achieve my goal.

Any input? What would you do considering my goals?

has anyone heard of signaturehouston.com ? they sound and look good. check out their rent page. hope to hear back!

i found a website that has a list of investment properties. They send over comps of the area, break down all numbers conservatively and show what cashflow you could get from it. I asked for references and they gave me plenty.

do any of you use any types of companies that do this sort of thing? If so, what are they?

very interesting point of view, people! thank you. the one that really got me to thinking was about the mutual funds. I have mutual funds - only about 8500 worth, but in the past 7 years I would have done better keeping the money under my mattress.

for me, it isn't about building an empire (yet). I have my empire i am already attempting to build :) REI - by way of buy and hold - is a means for me to acheive financial independence and reduce stress caused by worry due to lack of income. Talk to any business owner, we are probably all like that to an extent.

My motivating factor in paying off first is to minimize my exposure of going under. As mentioned before, if 2 of 5 properties are vacant for a while, then I'm hurting. On the other hand, I think if I can pay off 2, then I could justify buying 2 or 3 at a time after that, since my rents from my paid off houses should cover the others. Perhaps I need to just build a large cash reserve before doing so. I think that I can do this quicker by paying my house off fast, and then save so I am not paying so much on interest.

how much is it?