Residential Real Estate Broker 路 Greensboro, NC 路 Member since 2015 路 14 posts 路 68 votes
Just a fun post here. I have been a SFR investor for 15 years and now have $2M in rental RE while working a full time career. The cash flow was tight for years it seemed but the snowball of debt paydown is rolling big time now and I'll be able to "retire" in 2 years with enough cash flow to replace my salary.
That said, I can't imagine having a car payment and only buy used vehicles. I drove a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee (to haul all my rental supplies) for 7 years and the engine blew a year ago with 275k miles. I made a significant upgrade and replaced it with a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 110k miles and paid $3,600 cash.
I don't need the status symbol of a new vehicle nor the monthly payment and living well below my means is my motto. As Dave Ramsey says, "live like no one else today, so you can live like no one else tomorrow".
I LOVE this thread! Never been a flashy person myself, so it's a warm feeling to be among kindred, frugal souls.
I drive an iridescent cream colored '95 Infiniti J30 named "Pearl" by the way. Paid $1800 for her four years ago, replaced the timing belt & fuel pump once & she still gets me anywhere I want to go.
2 Suburbans, you are a certified Texan! Now if one of them is 4x4 with a brush guard, I'll support your run for governor
At one point, in 2010 we owned 3 suburbans at one time. I've owned 4 total over the past 12 years. The 95 you've seen with 263k miles, an '85 that I had for 9 years, an 89 that I drove for a year, and a 91 that I drove for 2 years. At one point we had the 85, the 89, and the 95. It was a funny picture of our driveway :)
Truly love this thread. Just about everyone who piped into this conversation drives paid-for cars they bought used. All of us real estate investors think a like. I have done the same my whole life. I think the root of it is that we like to wake up "winning" every day.
It drives my wife crazy, how ever I just cant let go. I have a 1989 toyota truck, that I bought brand new! Still going strong and have never had a car payment. I am working on SFR number 8 and have no need to change! Ride on !
Paid cash for all of my cars. No car payment since 1999.
1998 Saturn sl1 - 255,000 miles (standard trans with original clutch). My wife hates it that I will drive it until it will no longer move regardless of her insistence.
1999 Toyota Rav4 - 197,000 miles.
2007 Chrysler Town and Country - 149,000 miles.
I would be willing to have a car payment only if an asset was paying for it so I could get a tax deduction. And that's only if it's my dream car.
I drive a 2009 Audi A6 for casual driving and a Ford F-350 for the heavy duty work landlord related tasks. Bought both used cash, no payments....i'm seeing a landlord theme here! Smart purchase is buying used instead of buying new
If you want a car just for transportation that is one thing, if you want a special car because you love cars that is another thing. If your an investor and the kind of investor where your car means nothing but is basically a work vehicle that is something else. I bought my first car at twelve for $10 and sold it for $25 when my parents wouldn't let me keep it. But from then on I was hooked on cars.
Now days I just need something to get to the store and the medical offices. So my wife and I still have the 2003 Corolla we bought new when our luxury car that was only two years old blew up in front the the Toyota dealer on our way to a doctors appointment. It is all we need at the present an it just hit 24,000 miles on the odometer.
The reason I got into real estate investing a week after my 16th birthday was so I could buy one of the new things called a corvette. Funny thing was when I got the money I didn't buy one, I kept the stock exterior 49 chevy convertible with the secret fully hopped up new 55 Buick V-8 under the hood, Lasalle transmisstion, and Olds rear end. That was one hot car. Loved it, courted my wife in it, The day I sold it to get a family car was a sad day for me.
Had some great cars but found out in the market place I was dealing in when I got my brokers license that image was crucial and thus began the getting a new car every two years, and keeping the last one for two years as a second car. Waste of money, no, it was way more than offset by the business I didn't lose when dealing with snobs.
Then I found a way to make money with cars. One of my clients was a car dealer and a broker, and he liked going to the dealer auctions himself to pick up inventory for his used car business. he needed more cars then his dealership got in trade-ins. One day he asked me to join him so he could discuss a real estate deal at the same time. When I saw what some cars where going for I said to myself even I could resale those for a profit. So I had him bid on a Mercedes for me and we got it. That was the beginning of buying a car at auction, driving it in my business with a for sale sign and my car needs began another profit center instead of an expense.
1999 Chevy Silverado paid for/2000 chevy co. pick up for work 100 month payment for six more months can write this off as well as expenses.2006 Impala LTZ . Wifes car. I got a 1999 Corvette as part of payment for a house and lot I sold. Always wanted a vette but I traded it to Dealer for the Impala for wife
I bought a 2010 BMW X5 about 2 years ago, through finance(whoops). I ended up paying it off 2 months later when I realized a 7% loan ended up being more like 20. After re-framing my money into tangible REI equivelents, I realize for the purchase of the car, I spent a down payment on a house. The $300 oil changes have probably added up to some nice slate counter tops, and my last repair bill is about as much as 1200sq/ft of some nice mahogany floors. I bought the car when I was 21, and in my childish attempt to look and feel wealthy, all I did was cripple the potential growth of my net worth.
Great learning experience! Anyone wanna buy an X5? $10 and a pack of smokes. :D
I pride myself on driving the junkiest car at my workplace. The 20 guys who work for me all have nicer cars than I do.
Here is my "fleet":
2001 Hyundai Accent with 165K miles, totaled in a hail storm in 2009, and purchased off of my ex-wife for $600. I've driven it about 55,000 miles since I bought it, with only one twenty dollar repair required. That car has been a great investment!
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 diesel pickup. I use this for pulling a horse trailer, and it also has over 160K miles. Purchased it used for $8K.
I've always purchased vehicles with cash, and I only really buy what I need for transportation. I learned to fix my own vehicles in the poor days following college, so I don't sweat the potential for repairs. Plus, having two vehicles gives me a spare.
I used to work in banking, and quickly discovered that most of the people who looked rich were not, and quite a few of the people who looked poor were rich. I'm entirely unconcerned about status, or impressing anyone. Most of my neighbors probably think that we're making 1/4 to 1/3 of what we actually make, and that's perfectly fine by me.
my wife and I are both new to the investor life currently working a deal on our first income property in new Hampshire but we are both car nuts so here is he current (it changes often) fleet.
04 ford f350 diesel- used for pulling the am per and is marked to take on landlord duty once we close.
01 audi s4- my weekend go fast toy
04 audi a4 -my wife daily duty car
91 Mazda miata- the wife's weekend toy
All cars are modifies to our liking or are in the process. To us our cars re nd extention of us and we like it that way