All Forum Posts by: Scott Mac

I don't see how you could be an investor in real estate unless you own the real estate.

Unless maybe you have an option on the purchase of the real estate or something.

As a business owner you might want to consider yourself to be an entrepreneur, or a Franchisee.

Just my 2 cents.

Mexico is already building tent cities to house them.

If I were down there I would think about setting up a food truck or 10 or 20 and serving breakfast burritos 24 hours a day with some good hot coffee.

Just my 2 cents.

[1] You might want to think about opening 2 FDIC insured savings accounts that have no fees.

Ask your employer if you can have your pay split up into three deposits, one to investments savings, one to your checking account for personal use on a daily basis, and one to an emergency account you can tap into so you don't have to tap into your investment savings.

Once your emergency account has a reasonable amount in it, whatever that means to you, you might want to think about steering that payroll money into the investment savings account from each pay check and leave the emergency account money as is.

The percentages are going to be up to you

There are all kinds of High interest account that require all kinds of hoops to keep them.

But in reality you might just want to think about using a standard savings account And taking a hit from inflation on the cash because the delta from the higher interest account to the regular account is not really that much on small amounts.

And once you get a sizable amount built up in there look at some of the higher interest accounts that they have.

Depending on how long it takes you to save up the amount, you might want to also allow for inflation on that amount for your continued savings.

[2]   Read Rich Dad poor dad.

[3]   Think about getting a second job - possibly a temporary job - save a 100% of the money.

Just my 2 cents.

Every investment anyone makes involves risk.

Non of us, no matter how experienced, have a crystal ball that we can look into and see the future outcome of an investment.

One thing that I would like to add to this list is making an investment without having enough extra money to get through the medium times as well as the bad times.

Basically what I'm talking about is cash reserves, or a tappable cash source to weather out the storms that come with the ups and downs of the market over time.

Just my 2 cents!

Entrepreneurial drive.

Entrepreneurial vision.

Money for the down payments that comes in like an annuity either from your W2 efforts or from owning another business.

Knowledge of how the business works.

The ability to borrow the right kind of money at the right time.

Avoiding the ravages and savages of the divorce court system. 

Avoiding the ravages and savages of the IRS audit system.

When you are starting out the ability to be a hammer swinger and DIY things yourself in a workman-like manner.

The ability to pick good renters on a consistent basis. 

Just my 2 cents.

 Well I've never really thought if they appreciate it on an individual level or not.

Some do say thank you, some do not. 

But I look at it this way, let's say I answer someone's question in Columbus OH and it sits out there for a while and gets read by someone in New Jersey or California and it helps that person. 

So I look at it as more than just helping the individual person I look at it as helping anyone who would read that question in the future too.

I've run into that sometimes too.

I think it stems from the question asker not having enough information and knowledge to ask a good question.

What I do in a situation like that, is I try to figure out what I think they really would like to ask if they had enough knowledge to ask a good question.

And then I answer the question I think they would ask if they knew more about this business vs. the original question.

It might be the investing environment.

Right now we have a different interest rate picture then we had a few years ago.

Also in many areas prices are very high.

Meaning the low hanging fruit for a new investor might be a little higher up on the tree and fewer and farther between.

And I also see many questions popping up about running a short term rental business, which to me is more of a business than an investment although it does involve an investment in real estate.

Be there when they finish. 

Have them start touring you around to inspect the work about !5 mins before they finish.

And if there's still some to do, point it out before paying.

Good luck!

That sure is a pretty looking bridge, I hope the local people find it to be a very useful thing.