My Journey to $20M in assets

Chicago, Illinois

Land & New Construction

My Journey to $20M in assets

Daniel Ortiz de la Garza

Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes

Hey all,

After thinking it over I decided to create a new thread.

I am a small time passive real estate investor who has ambitions to expand greatly, first to $20M and perhaps maybe more. i guess I will give a little bit of background on my journey up to now.

I am 38 y/o, Electrical Engineer by day, Architectural enthusiast by night. I was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and through a mentor got word of a book called The Fountainhead. Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class. I forgot how the book ends but one of the high points was his design of a chapel "for the worship of God and the service of Man". I had no idea what Ayn Rand was writing about was a REAL person: Frank Lloyd Wright. Fast forward a year later I am at home (Chicago) and find myself in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park. Imagine my surprise as I walk up to this structure, thank god I was "awake" enough to be able to notice this beautiful piece of Architecture:

The enigma that was Roark hopped out at me in real life in the form of his temple, in reality it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a turning point in my life. Since then I have dedicated most of my free time to study Wrights work, developing myself as 1st an Architectural Drafter, and now as a conduit of beautiful Architecture and interior/exterior design in the spirit and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. I have moonlighted for several Architects and through hard work and good fortune stumbled on an opportunity to become an apprentice electrical engineer. 10 years later I am a senior engineer, together with my wife, have a decent portfolio of Real Estate. I always suspected that to achieve anything of great notoriety in Architecture one needed to have access to wealthy friends or develop projects oneself. Not having the latter I find myself on a journey to build a portfolio not just for wealth's sake, but to move the proverbial needle on beautiful design and provide a more pleasant built environment for all!

So that is me. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting weekly progress on here. Cheers and hope you all have a great weekend!

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Jonathan KlemmBusiness Member

Moderator

Contractor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes

2y

Hey @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza - Really appreciate the share. Thank you for your service, it goes without saying that you are an amazing civil servant.

Your story caught my eye...I started out studying architecture and quickly shifted to construction engineering as I was a bit more analytical than I was creative at the time. Nonetheless, I still appreciate great architecture. Love the part of your post about "worshiping God and serving men and women!"

I am down in Chicago, but out in that area often so if you ever want to talk architecture and construction let me know. Excited to see your weekly updates! Given your background I expect you to be pretty disciplined in that task.

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Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Rafael Pinho:

Quote from @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza:

Whats up folks!
So yeah after quite a bit of research into options I have decided I will be deploying a semi aggressive strategy with them to raise $$$.
If anyone is interested, follow meetkevin, he is a wizard. Just this past week he 5x his 100k investment through Tesla options. $500k in a week, not bad at all. I am not quite in that boat of disposable income that I could stomach losing, but I have determined a reasonable strategy of maybe going in 1k at a time on a 3-6 month journey to 10x 5 to 10 transactions. Should make a cool 100k. I should have looked into doing this 4 years ago, I'd be retired by now. Its risky but risk can be mitigated.
In case anyone is wondering how this applies to real estate, my goal is to raise 100k for my dream of building a short to mid term rental on land I have already purchased in Northeastern IL in the style of FLW usonian homes.
Cheers folks!

Hi Dan, after reading your post I tried to find out how much it would cost to build a Usonian-style house today and stumbled upon this: https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/frank-lloyd-wright-usoni...
Hey Rafael,

Thanks for reading and I love that you did some digging on Usonian inspired designs. Its not widely covered but Wright in the 2nd half of his life was completely consummed with the challenge of providing low-cost and beautifully designed homes to the countries working class. First through American System Built Homes, and then through his Usonians starting with the Jacobs 1 and 2.

Yup IMO Lindal Homes is currently the closest thing available that is doing what I aspire to do. I may reach out to them to price out at plans for a partial kit🤔🤔

Thanks so much for the feedback!

0 Reply
Rafael Pinho
Developer · Reykjavík Iceland · Member since 2023 · 37 posts · 19 votes
2y
It's brilliant when geniuses like FLW lend their talents to the noble cause of creating affordable quality. But we also know that the materials he employed on the Usonian houses are not exactly affordable by today's standards...
1 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quick update here, and apologies for the confusion of talking stocks and options on a RE board. Fact is this is a path I am currently on, that is: Somewhat aggressive Options trading strategy to build enough capital so that I can self fund my first design/build project in the Usonian/ FLW style.
So to that end, nice update on here... portfolio is up like 40% in 2 weeks and I am hoping to get some more gains in the next few weeks. All options calls are on Tesla rocketing past $260 price which I see happening easily in the next 2 weeks. We shall see, I will update if I see a loss but again do not expect it.
So my life has been consummed with putting together the 1st few concept drawings of my project. I have included one here. Note the grand terrace at the main level🤗
hope everyone has a great week!
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Rafael Pinho:

It's brilliant when geniuses like FLW lend their talents to the noble cause of creating affordable quality. But we also know that the materials he employed on the Usonian houses are not exactly affordable by today's standards...

Yup for most of the Usonians the loads of wood used is cost prohibitive now and hard to source.
However, I thought about this one as an example of a build with simple materials (steel and concrete block) that are not in themselves expensive to source that can achieve a beautoful design (with great effort of course by designer and builder) at low cost and scale. Harold Price House in AZ
cheers!
1 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
So for those that follow the market, tesla had a big pump and then came back down. Most of my options were breakeven haha still learning the game.

I am in the process of finalizing what the exterior finish will be on my new build, most likely very light grey stucco, pretty excited about it. I am probably going to join the course by Kai Andrews, it seems like it is in line with what I want tk do which is replace my work income w actuve real estate investing and then scale to 20 m's.
Thats all for now, been a slow summer hope everyone is enjoying it🙂
0 Reply
Robert EllisBusiness Member
Developer · Miami, FL · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza:

So for those that follow the market, tesla had a big pump and then came back down. Most of my options were breakeven haha still learning the game.

I am in the process of finalizing what the exterior finish will be on my new build, most likely very light grey stucco, pretty excited about it. I am probably going to join the course by Kai Andrews, it seems like it is in line with what I want tk do which is replace my work income w actuve real estate investing and then scale to 20 m's.
Thats all for now, been a slow summer hope everyone is enjoying it🙂

you should look at larger deals than one single family. 12 months ago I was targeting single family home builds and designs and at this point I'm entitling and putting together 400k+ sq ft mixed use buildings worth more than 100 million. I also relocated to miami Florida from columbus ohio. it all started with mindset. I made some of the biggest changes of my life but I'm setting my career up for long term growth.
[email protected]786-494-6766
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1 Reply
James Wise
Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza:

Hey all,

After thinking it over I decided to create a new thread.

I am a small time passive real estate investor who has ambitions to expand greatly, first to $20M and perhaps maybe more. i guess I will give a little bit of background on my journey up to now.

I am 38 y/o, Electrical Engineer by day, Architectural enthusiast by night. I was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and through a mentor got word of a book called The Fountainhead. Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class. I forgot how the book ends but one of the high points was his design of a chapel "for the worship of God and the service of Man". I had no idea what Ayn Rand was writing about was a REAL person: Frank Lloyd Wright. Fast forward a year later I am at home (Chicago) and find myself in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park. Imagine my surprise as I walk up to this structure, thank god I was "awake" enough to be able to notice this beautiful piece of Architecture:

The enigma that was Roark hopped out at me in real life in the form of his temple, in reality it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a turning point in my life. Since then I have dedicated most of my free time to study Wrights work, developing myself as 1st an Architectural Drafter, and now as a conduit of beautiful Architecture and interior/exterior design in the spirit and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. I have moonlighted for several Architects and through hard work and good fortune stumbled on an opportunity to become an apprentice electrical engineer. 10 years later I am a senior engineer, together with my wife, have a decent portfolio of Real Estate. I always suspected that to achieve anything of great notoriety in Architecture one needed to have access to wealthy friends or develop projects oneself. Not having the latter I find myself on a journey to build a portfolio not just for wealth's sake, but to move the proverbial needle on beautiful design and provide a more pleasant built environment for all!

So that is me. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting weekly progress on here. Cheers and hope you all have a great weekend!

1 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Robert Ellis:

Quote from @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza:

So for those that follow the market, tesla had a big pump and then came back down. Most of my options were breakeven haha still learning the game.

I am in the process of finalizing what the exterior finish will be on my new build, most likely very light grey stucco, pretty excited about it. I am probably going to join the course by Kai Andrews, it seems like it is in line with what I want tk do which is replace my work income w actuve real estate investing and then scale to 20 m's.
Thats all for now, been a slow summer hope everyone is enjoying it🙂

you should look at larger deals than one single family. 12 months ago I was targeting single family home builds and designs and at this point I'm entitling and putting together 400k+ sq ft mixed use buildings worth more than 100 million. I also relocated to miami Florida from columbus ohio. it all started with mindset. I made some of the biggest changes of my life but I'm setting my career up for long term growth.
You are a beast my friend, respect. Loving your videos on LinkedIn as well, congrats man.

Yeah Multi sounds very interesting, plemty of demand for it around most large cities.
0 Reply
Olga Daisel
Member since 2020 · 69 posts · 25 votes
2y
@Dan Zambrano
How is your stock trading? Did you flip money?
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Olga Daisel:

@Dan Zambrano
How is your stock trading? Did you flip money?
Hi Olga,

Im glad you asked!

So yeah I had calls on Tesla a few weeks ago and basically exploded my portfolio by double. I thought it was going up higher so I stayed in the trade, and few days later it came crashing down😬. I learned alot from it. Last 3 options trades I am up but basically- all time- breaking even right now . With the stock market literally about to do a huge correction pre election I think there will be quite a bit of money to be made on shorts. Thats my strategy there ( by way of sqqq calls), basically selling all of my longterm portfolio and building up a war chest of 🤑 to go pick up options that I have a high degree of certainty will make some big gains (thanks to the inside scoop from youtuber meetkevin, I am a course member so I get his trading alerts.)

I am sure that was probably a few more paragraphs then you would have wanted haha but yeah hope that helps and feel free to check back in i will be honest about wins and losses.

I am really most excited to dig into Kai Andrews' course.

Cheers folks!

0 Reply
Olga Daisel
Member since 2020 · 69 posts · 25 votes
2y
@Dan Zambrano
Was meet kevin helpful? I watch the guy since he started the chanel, but I don't know if trading is good with him.
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Not much of an update here. Travelling with the family in Oaxaca Mexico, incredible place, one of the important culturap states in the country where indegenous costums are preserved🤗.
I am currently short the DOW and as of today slightly up on that option trade, my only open one as everything else is incrediboy unpredictable and volatile.
I am excited to jump into Kai's course full steam when I get back, very excired about that. Oh yeah quick update I decided to design and build the next project as a lego set 1st, perspectives attached🤗
0 Reply
John Clark
Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
You any relation to the Zambrano’s cafe on Clark Street near Fullerton about 35 years ago?
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @John Clark:

You any relation to the Zambrano’s cafe on Clark Street near Fullerton about 35 years ago?
No relation unfortunately. I work in that area though🙂
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Olga Daisel:

@Dan Zambrano
Was meet kevin helpful? I watch the guy since he started the chanel, but I don't know if trading is good with him.
Yeah Kevin is pretty darn consistent and really good with his analysis. I think his success rate is at like 25 out of 27 the last few months of swing trading options.
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
I am feeling a bit complacent nowadays with Real Estate, but one of my talents is being relentless so I am staying active on here, and I want to analyze at least 1 or 2 deals a week.
My options are about ready to explode (via SQQQ) as the stock market does a slow bleed into the election.

Cheers to consistency!
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quick update: I purchased the land hacker course from Kai and currently diving in.
His theories on wealth creation with land are groundbreaking if I can make them work for me. I love Rob Ellis's encauragement on here a few weeks back. I do think it is good to expand and stretch your belief in yourself. Honestly I could have scaled years ago. So yeah I am currently learning alot on how to "equity stack" as Kai calls it on deals, bascially multiple streams of income from 1 deal.
cheers yall!
0 Reply
Jonathan KlemmBusiness Member
Moderator
Contractor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
2y
Wow @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza - I am impressed with your "relentless" consistent posting on this thread! Great work!
Good things are coming patience and persistence will go a LONG WAY!
Please let me know if you are ever down in Chicago and want to get together!
[email protected]
Quality Builders4.966 Reviews
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Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Jonathan Klemm:

Wow @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza - I am impressed with your "relentless" consistent posting on this thread! Great work!
Good things are coming patience and persistence will go a LONG WAY!
Please let me know if you are ever down in Chicago and want to get together!
Awww! Thank you Jonathan, that made my day!

I am in Chicago a few days a week, I will DM you!🙂
1 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quick update:
I am on module 1 of Kai's landhacker course and boy is it chock full of the good stuff! I am surprised there arent more posts on here about it. I caught myself wanting to skim over it and stopped. I am committed to doing EVERY exercise period! (I am usually lazy about courses and pick + choose my engagement) This feels very different from most things I have "tried" to work on in life (except for when I turned to RSD and Owen Cook a out 13 years ago to improve my dating life which resulted in finding/ attracting and marrying the girl of my dreams! DM me if anyone is interested to know more haha ). With this endeavor, the boats have been burned, the walls will be stormed at any and all costs.
Hope everyone is having a great week and ending of the summer!
cheers🙂❤️
1 Reply
Jonathan KlemmBusiness Member
Moderator
Contractor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
2y
Love to hear the dedication to the course @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza! Only 10% of people will finish a course they buy online, so #BeDifferent and finish -> you'll be in the top 10%.
I almost didn't finish my Jim Qwik speeding reading course, but I returned and got it done... Let's Go!
[email protected]
Quality Builders4.966 Reviews
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1 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @Jonathan Klemm:

Love to hear the dedication to the course @Daniel Ortiz de la Garza! Only 10% of people will finish a course they buy online, so #BeDifferent and finish -> you'll be in the top 10%.
I almost didn't finish my Jim Qwik speeding reading course, but I returned and got it done... Let's Go!
Thanks again for the kind words🙂. Congrats on sticking with the speed reading course!

1 Reply
John Clark
Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
When I read successive “rah rah” posts, I smell skunk cabbage, but that’s just me.
0 Reply
John Clark
Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
When I read successive “rah rah” posts, I smell skunk cabbage, but that’s just me.
0 Reply
Daniel Ortiz de la Garza
OP
Investor · Western Suburbs, IL · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 59 votes
2y
Quote from @John Clark:

When I read successive “rah rah” posts, I smell skunk cabbage, but that’s just me.
Perhaps, but also maybe folks are looking to spread positivity as a networking strategy, which resonates with how I aspire to be: Giving value in as many interactions as I can, because that truly is abundance. Yeah just my 2 pennies but thanks for the feedback.
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