All Forum Posts by: Skip Gilliam

yes looking for first investment, just had a quick conversation with the listing agent and he is emailing me a spreadsheet of all the income, taxes etc...

He said all the units are currently occupied and the owners are selling to move here to build a house on the water. They currently rent one of the units to stay during when they want to visit the area.

I'm trying to gather some current information about the property, waiting to hear back from the listing agent. Basic info is listed for $800,000 4 units with retail space below and 2 bedroom apartments above each unit.

Any experience in these type of units? Retail or office space below, apartment above. Units are fairly new built in 2006. Apartments are rented but the retail space below are vacant. Great location but not sure about the retail side of these units. 

I appreciate the clarity on this, this is what I was thinking but the book didn't seem to cover much on that statement...or I haven't made it that far in the book yet. One would think that it's is a long shot to buy a business and not have to work or exchange time for money, more than likely why most small businesses fail...more work and time involved than the owners planned on to turn a profit. 

I am very interested in the idea of investing in a high quality spec house. My wife and I recently finished our home and I truly enjoyed the whole building process. From the designs with the architect to working with the architectural review board and our builder on all the details, fit and finish. 

The housing market in the higher end neighborhoods in my area seems to be on fire lately. Many of the lots in these high end neighborhoods are selling at much lower prices than the owners paid at the peak of the market several years ago.

Is anyone currently investing in this area, if so I would love a few pointers on how to dig a little deeper into this to see if the profitability is there and what is the risk factor in spec building vs rentals. 

Thank you

I'm currently about half way through the book and it really does have some great information that is so easy to understand. Sure wish my parents had this knowledge to pass down to me when I was younger. 

He mentions buying assets not liabilities and not exchanging time for money which is easy to understand. One of the harder assets to understand that he lists is buying or owning a business that doesn't require you to work there...I would sure like to know what profitable business I can buy or own that doesn't require me to exchange some sort of time for money. 

Not sure if I fully understand that point as an asset. Sounds great but I know several business owners large and small business and they all have to put in time to keep the business running and profitable. 

Maybe someone can explain his concept on this to me?

The stock we invest in hasn't really been for dividends, rather for the increase in value that it continues to show year after year for the past 20 years. Stocks increased $120,000 in value last year with slightly higher than normal returns.  I know it's not money directly in our pockets as passive income but its still $140,000 generated from our investments. I'm not just looking at the small 2.5 yield. Without adding anything to our retirement accounts, they should be worth nearly 2 million in the next ten years with only a 10% annual increase. 

I am looking to invest in real estate to add to our portfolio. Im just interested in other opportunities as well. 

I have yet to invest in any real estate, I'm still looking and learning before I buy. However my wife and I have all of our retirement investments in stock roughly $800,000 give or take a few $ which is generating around $20,000 annually in dividends. On top of the dividends the stocks value has avg a 14% annual increase in value for the past ten years helping our retirement accounts grow substantially. The growth is great  but it's not creating enough passive income so we can step away from the high stress jobs. We are still young 36 and 38. 

Not sure what my question is, I'm just confused and trying to find other ways to passive income other than buying rentals, which seems like a lot of work and debt to go into for $300-$500 per door if I'm financing the properties. 

Has anyone here strictly invested for dividend income or any other passive income stream other than real estate? Just trying to figure out the best course for my wife and I over the next few years. 

Thanks

Im just starting out on this venture and I'm still reading and gaining as much knowledge as possible on investing in rentals. Still trying to figure out my plan of action. The more I think about it the more interested I am in just skipping the single family area and just going for it and try to put in the work to find an small apartment building 20 units or so. 

There are no units of that size anywhere near where I live mostly much larger complexes which would way out of my $ range. I would have to look outside my area. 

Any pointers on diving in to something of that size from the start for first investment?