All Forum Posts by: Peter Mateja

Conventional wisdom states that holding stocks long enough (e.g. 20+ years) should give you a nice, somewhat predictable average rate of return, based on long term observations of market appreciation.  The caveat, of course, is that average returns can be devastated if you sell at the wrong time (e.g. in a downturn).  However, this fascinating graphic explores how average returns over 20 years can be just as sensitive to entry conditions.  It demonstrates that if you enter the market at the wrong time, even 20 years of holding, and selling in an upswing, can still deliver paltry returns.

The mantra I keep hearing in the REI world is that you make you money on the purchase, rather than the sale (simplistic, but it's a neat saying). I think this article makes a strong statement for the same in the markets.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/busi...

Thanks @J. Martin for rushing around like mad to make this all happen.  Shout out to some of the presenters I saw on out of state / turnkeys... @Brie Schmidt, @Engelo Rumora, @Chris Clothier, and @Dawn Anastasi.  You definitely gave me good food for thought as I jump into this space.  I'll definitely be coming again next year!

I'll be driving up from San Jose those 2 days!  Really excited to get to meet with and hear from all of you!  I'll probably have lots of questions... ;)

Cheers,

Peter Mateja

@David Faulkner No problem... I can take a good ribbing, especially in the name of learning!  ;)

And, @Account Closed, (David too), I'm intrigued by your assertions.  Any pointers / tips as to strategies I should be investigating?  I'm more interested in buy/hold or perhaps brrrr than I am in flipping, wholesaling, etc, but I'm definitely open to info!

Sounds like I've got some more homework and conversations to have.

Cheers,

Peter Mateja

Hi Jason...

Newbie not-quite REI here, a long time Madison native now located in the Bay Area. I'm considering investing in the Madison area, since I lived there for close to 20 years, and have several contacts in the area. Since your post, how has it gone? Have you jumped in yet, or are you still in a learning / connecting phase?

I'll be in Madison mid-July for a friendly visit, and was going to check out the local REIA to see if there are any opportunities to meetup with anyone in the area. Let me know if you're interested. Oh, and I so miss the Great Dane!!!

Cheers,

Peter Mateja

@Lane Kawaoka Ouch!  Misunderstanding there.  I lived in Madison for almost 20 years, but was mostly a renter, and only a homeowner for 8 years, basically buying high and selling low.  My wife and I bought our home (and did a terrible job of negotiating) on the upswing in that area in 2003.  It was a fixer upper that we paid a non-fixer upper price for because it was a sellers market.  It also wasn't in a very hot location.  We proceeded to put tons of money into the place (roof, siding, insulation, bathroom rehab, upstairs tear down to the studs and rehab, etc.  We put it on the market in ~2009 in hopes of trading up... got no hits, and lowered the price several times... still no hits.  Then we took it off.  When I got my job in CA and relocated in 2011, we put the place on the market again, and priced it to sell.  The result: in 8 years we basically broke even.. but that was a result of some poor, uninformed choices on our part, as well as horrible market timing.
Madison is just one of the areas we're considering in WI... primarily for the chance at better (positive) cash flows and lower cost of entry.  The Bay Area seems to be too frothy (and expensive) of a market for a pair of newbies to play effectively.. though I'm certainly open to ideas and insight.
@Paul Timmins Thanks for the advice and book recommendations!  I'm definitely going to be networking locally, and I'll check out those books.

Cheers and thanks for the great questions and comments!

Peter Mateja

@Gloria Mirza I've been curious about local investment outside of the Bay Area, and am not totally against it.  My primary concern there is that I simply don't have a strong familiarity with those areas, since I've only lived in CA for the past 5 years.  Even though it's far away, I have connections in Wisconsin, and I'm very familiar with the neighborhoods and market in Madison.  But... I'm not against exploring more locally if the numbers make sense and I can find good resources to connect with.  Thanks for the question!

@Arlen Chou I will definitely check out that summit.  It looks like a fantastic opportunity to find some local connections and share ideas.  Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks for the warm welcome Jo-Ann!

I've been lurking on BP for about a month, after my friend and prospective business partner introduced me to the site, and suggested that we look into partnering in REI. Providentially, he did so just after I'd read Rich Dad Poor Dad, and began to read RDPD Cashflow Quadrant and RDPD Tax Free Wealth, so once I dug into what BP offers I quickly became excited to move forward.

Since there, I've watched a few of Brandon's webinars (excellent material), started reading more books (currently Gary Keller's Millionaire REI, but will be moving onto What Every Investor Needs to Know about Cashflow), done some sample analyses, and listened to a ton of BP podcast episodes. I'm also planning on attending the next BP meetup in the Bay Area in order to get some networking / facetime.

A bit about me:  I'm a software engineer at Google, working in Mountain View.  Married with an elementary aged child.  I was a homeowner back in Madison, WI, where I lived for close to 20 years, through college and beyond, but we sold when we moved out here, just breaking even.  In my spare time I love hanging out with my family, travelling, I occasionally like to fly small airplanes, and most recently I've been tinkering with home automation (Smartthings).

Once my business partner and I have worked out exactly what we want to do (current thinking is buy and hold back in Wisconsin, where we have contacts on the ground and prices are more reasonable), we'll begin to look for opportunities and pull the trigger.  I'll likely be asking some questions along the way in these forums.

Glad to have discovered BP, and look forward to making some great connections here!

Cheers,

Peter Mateja

@Jill DeWit... On a whim, I clicked on your footer link (landacamedy.com), and got a Chrome TSL warning for the domain (error message shown below).  Might want to check on that.

"This server could not prove that it is www.landacademy.com; its security certificate is from landstaystevebutala.com. This may be caused by a misconfiguration or an attacker intercepting your connection.

Proceed to www.landacademy.com (unsafe)"

Cheers,

Peter Mateja