While attending this weekends fantastic San Francisco Real Estate Networking Summit with nearly 200 investors from the BP (unofficial event), there was the usual discussion about APPRECIATION.After listing to some of my colleagues give their midwestern take on the concept, and understanding the general feeling about the subject on the BP...it dawned on me.....We throw around this word of Appreciation mostly as a noun.  

Today I finished @Brandon Turner 's new book on creative finance.It was terrific.Thanks to BP and @Joshua Dorkin for publishing it.I'll admit that I did not expect to learn a lot, as I have been investing for a while.Turns out I was wrong.Most of the concepts were familiar but the spirit was different.It was more creative in its application of concepts than I would have expected possible.As I went for my run today, I found myself re-planning my up-coming portfolio refinancing.I was delighted by how much the book made me think more creatively.Post run, I decided I would deploy a suggestion from the book.But which one?

It sounds like the financial gains may be quicker with wholesaling, but I find the self-storage concept appealing.

Ever since I listened to that post (which was last week, as I'm late to the game), I have been thinking about this concept more and more.

I have started a new website with Realeflow and now learning the concepts and functionality offered.

An important concept that I often see in real estate investing is that when you put your money in the hands of others it can often be lost due to negligence.

Thanks for journaling this experience- I look forward to hearing what comes next!

To your question Joe, I was planning on using the equity short term to get started into buying properties and renting them out then moving onto the next with the same concept. 

That is precisely why you will pay a lower cap rate in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica:  because it's a pretty SAFE real estate play.Now the UGLY:  The Ugly thing about the concept of rent control is that there is absolutely ZERO incentive to fixing up a property.  

I've been fascinated by the concept of a VA for years.