All Forum Posts by: Antonio Evans

If you are good at sales, I would recommend working in sales for a while, even a year. Save as much as you can. If you are as good as you say you are, you'll have $100k saved after year one and will have more cash to invest with. 

As far as what avenue to take, I think you have to do what interests you. There are lots of different ways to go and I find that most investors I work with have a preference that excites them and also balances their comfort level. 

Good luck! 

@Antonio Evans There are a lot of great books to help keep your mindset focused. I enjoyed Secrets of a Millionaire Mind as one of my more recent reads.  

Also, you need to drive that car for the next 15 years.  It was a mistake to buy a car that expensive when you only make 35k.  My last car was $17k (paid in cash), and I earn 5x your salary.  I need that extra money to close on another investment property this year.  

We all make these kinds of financial mistakes, though, and we realize what we could have done with that money as we get older.  Mine was trading out of cars too early.  I should have kept each of my cars a few more years than I did, but I got bored, and I wanted a new toy.  That has cost me a LOT of money over the long run, and I won't do it again.

If you are good at sales, you might want to go back into it.  The awesome thing about sales jobs is there is no ceiling on how much money you make, and your income is a direct reflection of how much effort you put into it.  Maybe try something different than cars?  You sound like you have big dreams, so go make it happen!

Welcome to BP! You are in a great situation being ambitious, young, single, no kids, and flexible ... yes, starting out is very difficult as it can take years before you start to see the fruits of your hard work, especially before you lock down your first investments; just have to keep at it and have faith that your hard work will pay off in the long haul, so long as you keep at it.

You mentioned sales ... I know you said you weren't feeling car sales, but were really good at it. What about getting your license and giving RE sales a go? Commissions on a house are much better than commissions on a car. Plus, if you are passionate about it, and come from a genuine place of wanting to help people do what is in their best interests, that will shine through and form the basis for a very rewarding career. Plus, you will learn & earn in the meantime, as well as have direct access and network in the business.

Beyond that, I'd advise to focus on mastering your personal finances first ... from your comments on saving $10k yet having $25k car loan, I'd say you are on the right track but still have some work to do. Investing in RE is not so different from personal finance ... it is just analyzing and managing income & expenses, just done on a larger scale and with leverage. Read "The Millionare Next Door", more millionares drive 10 year old cars than fly jets, that's how they got to be millionares and stay that way ;)

Finally, agree that in your situation house hacking is a great way to get into your 1st property. 1-4 units that needs work, will cash flow, yet in a great neighborhood of single family homes, that you can get a great deal on and add value to. Move in, fix up, rent rooms &/or units, buy another, move in .... 

Well, I certainly would never disparage your ambition. By all means, keep it, build a fire under it and keep it alive!

One of the first aspects of life you'll need to learn is the difference between the way W2 people think and the way "wealthy" people think, what ever "wealth" means to you - something you'll need to decide at some point. 

In a nutshell, ... 

• W2 people work for money. Wealthy people learn how to make money work for them.
• W2 people find ways to "save" (read: not spend) money. Wealthy people look for ways to invest money for income.
• W2 people value money more than time. Wealthy people know time is their most "expensive" yet profitable asset.
• W2 people spend money, like you and your new Impala. Wealthy people invest money for income, or for tax deductions (read: profit increase). Can you find a way to make your car a write off?
• W2 people want to own stuff. Wealthy people prefer to control stuff their business entities own. You'll need to get comfortable with controlling assets rather than owning them. Also, understand that income property is not a true asset - the tenant who pays the rent is true asset, the property itself is a liability, especially when its vacant.
• W2 people want to own stuff that's paid off. Wealthy people want to control stuff they can leverage (sanely!).

That's a very brief overview of a much larger topic.

The point about strategies is this:

Perhaps you've heard it said that when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like nail. People study subject-to and think it will fit every property they look at, for example, or fix-and-flip, or buy-and-hold, or ...

When you understand many strategies you can approach a property and instead of trying make it fit the strategy(-ies) you know you can determine what strategy best fits the property. If the best fit for a property is one you're not very good at, but you know someone else who is, that becomes a relationship-building opportunity. RE is a people business, first and foremost.

Hope this helps.

David J Dachtera

"Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."
- DJ Benedict

I just kept it super simple in the beginning, Antonio. I found a house at a good deal, put a little carpet and paint into it and rented it out. Then again, maybe with seller financing. Then a plex. Then a mixed use commercial bld. Now an offer of over 600k is thrown at me and I don't know what to do,

What I do know is I didn't finance a car whose vale drops 'like a rock' to build wealth. That's where Chevy got that lol.

Thanks for introducing yourself. Glad to have you! Be sure to check out the free how-to guides under Education. Read and learn! Check out the podcasts, too. ID one niche you like and master it!