"Retired at age 28 with a Lambo- " I just finished this thread.

[Rich Weese]

I just finished reading this thread and all 215 posts. It caught my attention because it reminded me of my early days in real estate. I have no reason to doubt the authors information and want to congratulate David Zheng personally for what he accomplished.

My reason is because he retired one year sooner than I did! I have not been very active on bigger pockets over the past number of years but was very active in the early days and even spoke at the Bigger Pockets convention in Denver Colorado. I don't know who the boss is at this time, but it was Josh Dorkin. My wife and I even helped Josh and his wife put all the information packets together the night before the convention started. I don't remember the title of my presentation but it basically covered things I had done to retire by age 29. I even wrote a book with the specific methods and specific addresses ( as several posts have asked David to do) included with photos of properties I bought to help start my empire.

I can assure you it can be done and has been done by multiple investors. I explained in the Denver Convention through my PowerPoint presentation that I had retired at age 29, owning a considerable amount of real estate and having $1,600,000 in notes owed to me at interest rates from 10% to 12% annually  providing nearly 200K annually in 1980 without working. I did retire and moved from Southern California to Southern Oregon to be self-sufficient and raise kids and cows. I did not have a Lamborghini at that time, but had already owned three 930 Porsche Turbo Carreras and owned three different airplanes at the same time. Cessna 152, 172 and 310 twin engine for my wife to fly.

I believe there was a tape or a podcast that had all the presentations from that convention. It would be easy to verify the information I am communicating here. I only chose to post this lengthy explanation because I had the same type of criticism as David Zheng and wanted to explain it can and has been done by others. I handled the criticism then and can handle it now, if necessary. Unlike David, I do have hundreds of posts from years ago on bigger pockets explaining how this was done and can be done again by others.

I hope to get slightly more involved in replying to threads and posts on Bigger Pockets. Retirement has a lot of different definitions. I continued to purchase real estate after moving to Oregon and have now owned over 1000 single-family residences and thousands of apartments, and 10 cows. I am truly winding down now. I believe it is still possible to find a thread I posted on bigger pockets several years ago where I was selling by owner 156 units in Garland Texas. Bigger pockets brought me several different offers to consider and I sold the property for $8,750,000 after purchasing a few years earlier for an amount of $4,275,000. I have also sold many single-family residences but still own a combination of over 300 doors. (houses and apartments) I am currently in a cash position and may purchase properties again if a crash happens in the marketplace.

Congratulations to all that have been involved with Bigger Pockets. I see things from Mr. Turner, Mr. Scott and Mr. Splitrock on regular emails as well as a few others. I don't know if Josh ever anticipated getting to the size it is now but congratulations to him also if he is still around.

I'll see you on the board sometime! I plan on taking a look at it more often.

Rich