All Forum Posts by: Aaron Lietz

Thank you again for the insights! My plan originally was to work toward leveling up to apartment ownership (many units) but since I'm currently in somewhat of the education phase I'm also gathering information and seeing what avenues will potentially be best to accomplish the goal of say $10k/mo passive income. It would be great to have that done in 5-8 years.

Which investors here are currently at or above this goal? Any insights there in the current markets?

Thank you all for the insights! Right now I'm actually working 7 days but that will change sooner than later. I've thought about investing with Cardone Capital but I don't know much about. I guess I just like the idea of following in Brandon Turner's model and having monthly positive cash flow. I would really like to make a plan to where, in 5 years or less, I no longer have to work the J-O-B. It would be nice to find someone who is already in the place I want to be and then just follow in their lead but I feel like that might be tough since if that person finds good deals (off market etc) why would they share them with me! LOL. 

Hi everyone! I'm new to REI, and to BP, and although I've read a lot of books on REI (including Brandon Turner's: The Book on Rental Property Investing) I'm wondering how you successful investors our there are able to find the time to hunt for properties, do property management, get deals under contract, and deal with all of the stuff that generally goes along with REI while working a full time job?

I currently work 60 hours per week and 6 days per week (I have an excellent 1%er career). However, my ultimate goal is to step away from doing that and have passive income in order to do the other things in life I love to do (travel, spend time with friends/family, etc). Where do you find the time? Is it possible to work a 60 hour job and also invest in real estate successfully? Is this reasonable? What strategies have you implemented? What about finding off market deals? Isn't that difficult if you're working so much? 

I'm also wondering what strategies are working right now in the AZ valley? Is it too overheated now or are there still great deals to be found? What are your thoughts? 

Thank you all in advance for the great tips! 

All the best,

Aaron Lietz

 Hi Jay, I see myself having property management deal with those things you had mentioned. In fact, I have read and also know of people who are doing what I'd like to be doing right now, and are successful with it (i.e. - having passive income and working the J-O-B a lot less, if any). For me, real estate is a vehicle away from the rat race, and I think most people (including Brandon Turner and many, many other successful real estate investors, feel that way as well). The goal is financial freedom through passive income. Of course, some investors have done this through single family, some through multi, some through commercial, and some through multiple avenues. But ultimately, cash-flow is where it's at for most of us (I think). 

Hey Dennis, I was thinking nearly the exact same thing when I read the article above. Why am I buying property in the first place? The answer is cash-flow. Monthly cash-flow. I feel like this is Rich Dad 101. The reason I'm investing in the first place is to be able to move away from the Employee quadrant and more into the Investor quadrant (so that I can work far less at the J-O-B, if at all, and have the freedom to spend more time with family/friends, travel, and generally do the things in life I really want to do). 

If a property doesn't cash-flow then there really is no reason for me to consider it. As Robert Kiyosaki says, you make your money on the front-end, not the back-end. Property appreciation is nice, but it really is just icing on the cake (since I don't want to sell properties, I want them to bring me revenue...every-single-month). So appreciation isn't the main source for me, and shouldn't be, since that takes years and I could just as easily call Cardone Capital (or someone else) and be far less hands on, or call Vanguard investments, and just set-it and forget-it. Yet in both of those scenarios I'm still in the E quadrant. Instead, I want my money to be my employee. Instead of me working the J-O-B all the time, it goes out and works to bring home more of itself each month. 

Oh ok, that's awesome. I've been discouraged recently b/c I keep running the numbers on properties and they just don't cash flow that well in the valley. I feel like I need to sit with someone who is successful and pick their brain on this market. 

Hi Shiloh,  

This is very interesting. Do you always go for off-market deals? 

Yeah, it's a bit discouraging in the Phoenix metro and great Phoenix areas. I run the numbers on lots of properties each day but it seems sellers want way too much for their properties (I'm looking at multi family) and, as you mentioned, once a property hits the MLS it's total crap (not worth it). What it seems like is that investors bought a long time ago, when the market crashed, and now they are looking to make a killing on someone like me. Nope! Sorry, not going to do it. I'll just wait until either another crash happens or until a good REO pops up.

Is anyone having success anywhere in the greater Phoenix area with any other strategies? I've been hesitating to jump on these forums a lot b/c I think "Why would other investors share their secrets?" I don't know. I guess I'm hoping to get lucky somehow. LOL.

Thanks for the advice! I am currently doing all sorts of searches to see what I might find. 

Hello BP users! I'm new to BP and I searched for this question. I'm relatively new to AZ and I've been wondering if the market is over inflated right now (i.e. - too hot). Are there still good deals to be found? If so, any tips?