Buying, Selling, and Profiting in the Russian Real Estate Market (2/4)
Tuesday, April 24
I was determined to buy an apartment in Russia. Financially, I knew it made sense. The alternative was that we’d pay about $60,000 in rent over 5 years, which was roughly the price of an apartment. Why throw that money away? I knew that if we bought, and even if the market crashed and the apartme...
Buying, Selling and Profiting in the Russian Real Estate Market (1/4)
Monday, April 16
This is the story of how I got involved in real estate investing and the tale of my very first purchase. This is how it all began for me. Years ago my wife and I moved to Russia to work with a Christian non-profit organization. Our plan was to live and work in Russia for 5 years. I noticed immed...
What is IRR and Why Is it So Important to Investors?
Saturday, March 10
Finance is math applied to money. For the investor, a basic working knowledge of financial math goes a long way in comparing different investment opportunities. But for most, the nomenclature of finance can seem daunting. Probably the most mystifying of all the financial ratios is the IRR, or the...
The Top 5 Reasons I Invest in the Self Storage Business
Monday, February 19
I've always been pretty excited about self-storage investments. How many of us have driven by a self storage facility and wondered, "How can I get a piece of that business?" Intuitively we know that it's a great business model, and the trend for easy storage is not going away anytime soon. Most ...
The One Big Flaw in Buy-and-Hold Investing
Tuesday, February 13
I am a buy and hold investor. Cut my signing hand with a carpenters knife and I bleed "buy and hold" all day long. Transactions costs and taxes are so destructive to capital that I've always steered clear of the real estate "fast trade". But, over time, the buy and hold model breaks down. Let me ...
The One Reason I'm Not Buying Small Apartment Deals
Tuesday, February 13
The 12-Unit DealNot long ago I worked with a broker to get a 12-unit building under contract for $1,300,000. The rents were $1500 per month, per unit grossing $18,000 per month. The numbers from the owner showed an average vacancy of 10% and an expense ratio of 55%, putting the Net Operating Inco...