All Forum Posts by: Tom Aiello

 Couldn't you just limit by time?  Record all time spent and all revenue earned for a set period of time (week, month, year, whatever)?

That would give you a useable metric by which to measure your return on time invested, and also give you a way to measure your own performance year-on-year.  If you make more per hour this year than last year, you've become a "better" (more efficient per time) investor.

That way you don't have to worry about what might or might not happen next year or the year after.  It'll show up (or not) in the bottom line for that year (or other time period), showing you that you are becoming more efficient.

Instead of trying to add up the costs/income per property, why not do it per week?

It's easy to say "well, I have this property up and cash flowing, so the return on my time this week is infinite for this one".  But in reality, aren't you spending time looking for new deals, managing other properties, etc?

If you just look at total income (from all your properties) and total hours per week spent (for all current and future properties) on real estate activities, that should give you a quicker "snapshot" of your _current_ (not potential future, which ought to be the area where you are killing it) income per hour.

I have a friend who is a professional in a well compensated field, in mid to late career (mid-40s).  If he makes $200 per hour for his 40 hours of work each week (which he does, roughly, and yes, it's really 40 hours), is real estate investing a worthwhile activity for him?  Can he expect it to increase his average hourly income within the foreseeable (5-10 years) future?  Or will it drop his average hourly income for longer?

Remember that in this stage of life, his primary goal is to spend more time with his family--not to build additional net worth (that's already doing fine).

Painting the brick will make the house look dated in a couple years, and require continuous re-painting of the brick.  It's super hard to get paint off the bricks.  I wouldn't paint the brick, personally.

Does anyone else have an estimate for their real-world "hourly rate" as an investor?  Someone who is in mid-career (investment career)?  Maybe in the 10-30 properties range, using professionals, etc?

It's a very valid question.  If you are a mid-late career professional in a high earning field it's possible to make $200/hr (or a lot more) before taxes.  Do mid-late career real estate investors see similar, higher, or lower returns on their time?

What are the rules for getting in state tuition?  Could you go to Cuesta (community college nearest to Cal Poly SLO), do lower division work there, and establish in-state residency before transferring to Cal Poly?