Old guy newbie: is it too late for me?

Richmond, Virginia
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Old guy newbie: is it too late for me?

Bradley R Stillabower
Member since 2022 · 25 posts · 8 votes

The BP community seems to cater primarily to the "Young and the (financially) Restless" , but I'm a 55yo retired military and soon-to-be-retired federal employee (14 months), considering one final encore career for 5-8 more years before fully retiring.  Wondering if that is enough time to accumulate a portfolio of investment properties that will generate between $50k-$100k per year of income to (help) pay for may daughter's grad school (student loan debt is anathema to me), and then continue to augment our pension and stock portfolio throughout retirement and finally leave as inheritance.  My only real estate experience is the four primary residences we've bought/sold for ourselves over the past 25+ years, one of which we tried to keep and rent, (but not a good experience).  My research so far is leading me towards small multi-family properties as the most efficient path toward my goal.

If I do pursue this, what is the best use of my time over this next year to educate and prepare?  A real estate license?   A BP boot camp?  Can I start with the Multi-family Boot Camp, or does it build on the Rookie Boot Camp?

I think I've read most of the free BP content by now, and it's been a fantastic one-stop-shop of educational material.  The Multi-family webinar was a very tempting intro to the analysis tools, which, as a numbers/data guy, are really enlightening, and comforting to know those tools are available.

Thank you,

Brad

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Theresa HarrisPro Member
Member since 2019 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
4y

It is never too late.  Not everyone here is young and many started later in life which is usually when we have more money to invest.

To borrow money, you will need regular income from an employer.  The chances of you getting enough property to reach your income goal before you retire early in a year is pretty low unless you have a huge nest egg.  Start by looking at home much money you have to invest and how much you can borrow.  Most people buy with 20% down and that means they don't cash flow a lot until their mortgages are paid off.  Some people buy with all cash, but that limits how many you can buy.  It does increase your cash flow as far as the rental goes, but you get less return on your investment.

You mention your daughter going to grad school.  Is she already in college/university?  If she is starting, buy a house or duplex in that town.  She can live in one room and you can rent out the other rooms. That covers her living expenses which is one of the main costs and allows you to get into real estate.  Keep that property and when she goes to grad school, repeat the process.  You can get a property manager to look after house 1 after your daughter leaves. 

I don't know where your daughter is planning on going to grad school, but I can tell you in Canada no grad school I know would cost close to that including living expenses.

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  • Simon W.Business Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Lehigh Valley PA & New York City · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 667 votes
    4y

    Hello,

    It is never too late. Real Estate doesn't take long to accumulate wealth if done correctly. However, education is what takes time to execute a sound strategy.

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  • Kimberly Banks Fawcett
    Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2014 · 19 posts · 44 votes
    4y

    You're never too old as long as you are willing to learn. You are miles ahead of other new investors because you've bought real estate already. 

    Couple of suggestions for you as you get started:

    1. Search the BiggerPockets forums (at the very least) for the name of any course or instructor you are planning to pay for. While you could get a few nuggets from a bad teacher, avoid it if you can. So many people skip this step. 

    2. Never, ever invest with an educator that you're studying with. They cannot teach you what a "good" deal is and then tell you that their deal is good. Huge conflict of interest. Taking it a step further, it's really not just a matter of not investing with them. Try to find a teacher that realizes the problem and doesn't make exceptions. 

    3. Make sure that they multifamily course(s) you pick will focus on 1-4 family investments. They kinda fall in between residential and commercial in a lot of ways so if that is where you want to start, it would be really annoying to start with a course that's only going to cover, say, downtown apartment buildings. 

    4. You mentioned that you tried landlording with a previous home. Before you get too much further down the road, spend some time really considering why it was a bad experience and find out if the typical multifamily "solutions" for these headaches will actually help you in the end. You don't want to invest money in your education, buy your first property and then realize that you hate landlording overall rather than just your previous tenants. There are no perfect tenants or property managers, no matter how many people try to convince you that if you were just a "better" landlord that you could easily find them. 

    Hope that helps!

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