BiggerPockets

2011 - Techniques on goals !

Tuesday, January 04

2011 Real Estate resolutions!

The New Year always makes most everyone think of a new beginning. The idea that comes to mind is a chance for a new opportunity. Change is in the air! Depending on your believe, some people just see it as another day. I prefer to see it as a new page.

Here is something I’ve done for some years now. It started as a positive thinking technique…and it works for me, so I will share it in case someone wants to do the same.The first few days of January, I sit down and think of last year’s accomplishments. I enjoy the positives and think of ways to improve the negatives. I think of a clean sheet of paper and imagine that being the New Year. Then, concentrate and think of the future… what do you want to do? What do you want to accomplish?  What do you want to happen?  Gather a handful of Index note cards, a good writing pen and think! Use one index card for each goal/wish; write it down as if you were making a request (I write mine as if I was making a help request to God). You can use as many cards as needed; I usually have about 20 to 30 goals/wishes. Writing every one of them down helps your brain think harder about those goals. By the way, write them by hand…it makes your head work harder. When you do it, you will notice that even as you think about what to write in this index card, it helps you develop a better vision for the future. When you’re done, read every one of them and try to imagine a way to accomplish those goals. Then place them all inside an envelope and keep it in your desk drawer. You will want to go back and review those goals/wishes every quarter, but don’t change them, as those cards hold your best NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS!

My requests/goals cover all areas; I have family goals, vacation goals, property goals, and more broad ones… business goals. Remember to think big and use the power of your mind.

I’ve been doing it for a few years and it helps me. I hope it helps you too! My concentration this year is …PAY DOWN DEBT!

I wish you all success and happiness in 2011!

Early retirement -Is it possible? - Taking care of debt -

Wednesday, December 08

OK… so here I am, continuing to write about my goal of early retirement.  I really hope I have something to tell you on a monthly basis…until the day we retire…that way…we will all know if it was possible.

Anyways, about one of the most important parts of retirement….FINANCE!  Let me talk about our finances concerning our rentals. At one point, we had two single family houses paid in full, all cash. We used the earnings of our first flip to purchase our first rental, a HUD house. We made some renovations to this house using our regular income to finance the expenses. So it was great! We had a rental property fully paid for and rented …bringing in great cashflow. We continued to buy properties, financed by our Bank. About 2 years in the business, we found a house very close to another rental…and it was for sale…dirt cheap…we bought it cash and renovated it with cash. So… 2 rentals fully paid for and bringing in great cashflow!  We continued to grow….and then… a great opportunity…. a fabulous house on a cul-de-sac with a swimming pool and all! It was a foreclosure. We purchased the house for a great price…and took a HELOC on one of our fully paid rentals to do the needed renovations on this house. We moved to this house and currently live there…but the trade off…. Only one free and clear rental property left. Then came another opportunity…and this time…it was a run down 12-plex… great location… great price….an opportunity that does not come to many times around. So, we did it…purchased the property and took another HELOC on the other free and clear rental to complete the renovations needed on the 12-plex.   So, for some time, (still now) it felt like instead of moving forward, we were moving backwards…. More debt!  But all in all… I think it is just the way to grow… it takes money to make money? Well… in this case…it is what we’re doing, so I really hope so!

Now, my plan of attack (against debt that is) …pay off the HELOC’s first - as soon as possible. We will allocate all monthly revenue to additional principal payments of the Haloc’s. This should help us get rid of them in about 26 months. We will see how it all goes! The plan is to use the snowball effect in paying off debt. That is…as soon as one is paid off…use the same amount and allocate it to another principal payment to pay IT off sooner.  

Early retirement... Is it possible?

Sunday, November 28

Is it possible? Well, I sure hope so! I will be blogging about my goal to retire early...This being said...I will post a goal year here and now, my goal....be able to retire by 2015.

I have to start by telling you about myself and some relevant information in an attempt to get you up to speed to where I stand today. My name is Ana Hyler and I'm 39 years old. I live in Lincoln NE. married and 5 kids. My husband and I work full time jobs in corporate America and we also invest in real estate mostly in rentals but some flips here and there. We moved to Lincoln almost 8 years ago and bought our first property 5 years ago.We currenly own 19 rental doors !

Yes, 19 rental doors. I remember we used to think if we could only have 15 to 20 rentals... we would be covered and could retire then... well reality is...with that number of units we also acquired quite a bit of debt. When people mention with some surprise and let's face it...with some envy the fact that we should be getting a good amount of cashflow from our rentals, I usually reply with a YES and ask..."would you like us to also show you our bills?".

Our first deal was a house in Kansas in 2005. We bought the property sight unseen...and it took us 1 whole year to renovate it...we did most of the work ourselves and we learned soooo much. We traveled every weekend and put at least 20 hours work per weekend the whole year and remember...we live in Lincoln, so on top of all the work we had to drive 3 hours there and 3 hours back! All this after working all week in our regular jobs and at the time, my husband was also going to school ! All the work was really worth it and it left a sweet taste in our pockets! At that point...we were hooked !

I will continue to blog and tell my story. This is it for now....I really just wanted to get started. I hope my experiences are an inspiration to many and I want to make sure I tell as many details as I can, so this blog becomes a learning tool. Untill next time.