All Forum Posts by: Michael S.

It's all about your attitude.

@Greg Scott  I'm tagging you in this reply because I want to reinterpret what you're saying.  Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding.  I am a newbie, so I'm bound to misunderstand SOMETHING. 

@Jonathan White, you did not specify in your initial post anything about 15% ROI. You've stated that you receive $1,000/month. I think that Greg Scott was saying that you should liquidate your investments paying $1k/month and reinvest into real estate.

If I've misunderstood, Greg, please correct me.

Jonathan, if your ROI IS at 15%, then by all means leave it where it is. If not, then consider what I've said above.

I usually see it attributed to Henry Ford.

Network, network, network.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can advise me on what my next step should be.  My manners aren't the greatest atm, so I just wanted to add this bit in.  I actually forgot it earlier.

I've been reading BP forum posts since February.  I don't read very fast and I find it even harder to store information, so the repetition of information is extremely helpful to me.  My wife owns a property here.  Not free and clear - we still owe about $35k on it, but we're ready for a change. 

So to recap, we have a primary residence here.  I want to buy a new primary.  Once we do, we will convert this house into a rental.  Only then will I refer to myself as an investor.  

Miami (pronounced MI am uh) is a smallish town.  Our population is 15k.  We have the county courthouse.  One of the things I learned very quickly is if you pronounce the name of the town like the city in Florida is pronounced, you will most likely get beaten up.  

I don't drive.  That is, I have an active drivers' license, but not a vehicle.  My wife has her own car, a 2012 Ford Focus which I was intelligent enough to pay off in 2017.  My wife comes to me for all money related decisions.  I don't know why this is.   She comes to me and asks me questions like "Can I afford to buy a new car?" and then a couple of years later (we closed on this house in October of 2013), "Michael, can I buy a house?"

She works in here in town.  I volunteer at our church.  I have not had a paying job since I was 25.  I stay home and do what she tells me to.  I was actually on Social Security when she and I met in 2003.  In 2007 we went in to recertify and were told that she made too much money.  I was relieved to be off that government teat.  I hated knowing that I was doing nothing to earn my own right to exist.  

Fast forward to 2019.  I am so very tired of sitting around doing nothing to bring income to our little family.  It's just she and I.  We have three cats.  That's right.  We're THOSE people.  I've been educating myself on the BP forums since February as I said.  I've actually gotten two votes.  I'm not exactly sure who voted for me or why.  My wife brings in $51k/year before taxes.  I fill out surveys.  When I get to $30.00 I ask for a payout.  And it comes in the mail.  And I deposit it in my savings account.  When my wife gets paid, 10% of that goes into each of our savings accounts.  Her last payday was last Friday.  I got ~$197 dropped into my account.  So I have ~$3000 in there now.  She has $10k+ in her savings account.  

I walked into our local chamber of commerce last March (I walk 2 miles 5 days a week.  That used to satisfy my exercise requirement.)  and asked a real estate related question - I don't even remember what it was - and the kid at the desk looked at me like I was growing a second head and said, "We don't do ANYTHING like THAT here."  So I know that if I were to go in and ask about REIAs I would get a similar response.  There is one in Joplin, but that's thirty miles away.  I've read that the average man can walk 35 miles in a day.  The terrain between here and there is a little rough for walking.  I've walked fifteen miles once.  I'm pretty sure that I couldn't walk to Joplin.

I believe that answers will come if the correct questions are asked. When I first posted here in February, I complained that a lot of the threads I had read up to that point contained a lot of acronyms, that I couldn't expand into their longer versions. Now I feel like I've reached a point in my study of REI that I can read an acronym and expand it in my head. For instance, I live in an SFR in Miami, OK. Okay, maybe that wasn't the best example. I'm trying to figure out what 'comps' are. I'm usually pretty good with context clues, but I have zero grasp on that one. Maybe some thread I come across soon will enlighten me.

I have long been a person who hides behind excuses.  Now in two weeks I'll be turning 40.  It's about time I got life started.  Excuses are irrelevant. I'll always have another one.  Another reason to remain mediocre.  It's very easy to be mediocre.  Takes almost no effort at all.  That's my one skill.  Being mediocre.   I can't even talk properly yet.  At least that's one mistake that I won't make again.  What you read here is simply what I want to tell you.  How I hear myself speaking in my mind.  How I spoke all those years ago (with the exception of the French.  I don't speak much French anymore.)

So now that I've bored you all to death with my novel-length neo-introduction, what questions should I be asking at this point in my journey into REI? I believe that answers come all the time. Unless I am framing the correct question in my mind, I won't recognize the answer when it comes. Please advise me.

@Alan Grobmeier

Thank you for the information.

@Reid Frohlich 

So you're saying that these people want to give you money, get money back through the deal, and not do anything otherwise?  Why are you even considering this?  

@Alan Grobmeier 

As I understand them, one cannot acquire a new FHA loan until one has completely paid off the old FHA loan. Is this not correct?

[DISCLAIMER] I HAVE NOT BOUGHT MY FIRST RENTAL HOUSE YET.  THEREFORE, TO MY WAY OF THINKING, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO AUTHORITY TO BE GIVING ADVICE.

[/DISCLAIMER]

I've found this a very interesting thread.  It's given me a few ideas for my own situation in fact.  I've been reading forums at BP for a couple of weeks now, trying to soak up 'the culture'.  When I made my first post, it was recommended that I do this.  

That being said, @Chris Gawlik, have you considered not selling your current house and renting it out instead?  I think that this would be the wisest idea for your situation.  That way, you'll STILL own the house if this trailer situation doesn't work out.  The CF it generates could only help you and your family.  And honestly, there ARE easier ways to deal with your spending issues.  I attended a free class at our local library a month ago, about financial literacy.  The first day the instructor handed us a Spending Leaks worksheet, and told us to take it home and fill it out.  I handed mine in the next class period and he looked it over.  He remarked how well we're doing.   I said 'thank you' and he returned to teaching the class.  Along the Y axis, the worksheet had 'whats' and along the X  axis it had   'how often'.  For you in sunny CA, I would think that a possible spending leak for you would be "stopping for coffee".  How often do you stop for coffee a week?  How much do you spend?  Take that number x 7, and you have your weekly cost.  Multiply it by 30 and you have your monthly cost.  Multiply the {daily-cost} by 365 and you can clearly see how much you're spending on coffee per year.  

This is getting longer than I wanted it to.  I'm sure that you can do an Internet search for that worksheet.  Get the worksheet, and find out where your spending leaks are.  Then fill them.  If you find that even after filling them, your expenses still = your income, than you and I are in the same boat.