All Forum Posts by: Bjorn Ahlblad

Honored to be a part of this group. 

I grew up in a house that had a hand pump in the kitchen and we had an outhouse in the shop out back. I thought everybody had that?

Curiously you can expose kids to exactly the same stimuli and they draw entirely different lessons from it. I have 2 boys and 2 girls.The girls are ideal money mangers and completely suited to managing properties and tenants whereas the guys are poor money managers and different very skill sets. 

One son is a union foreman in Maui. The other son is still figuring stuff out and has difficulties with a structured environment. I can very much relate to that.

I have a daughter who is a total entrepreneur, runs a gym and is a licensed boxing instructor in Barcelona-she is also a bee keeper. Another daughter is a property development VP in Canada, we have a lot of laughs about who runs a tighter ship.

We are exploring 'gifting' as an option for passing on family resources.

Make sure you are satisfied. The fact that your 'turnkey company' is asking you to arrange inspection and cost for sewer would be worrisome to me quite frankly. But there may be something I am missing here? All the best!

My wife quit her W2 in 2017 after I retired in 2015. We are REI pros and do nothing other than manage our own properties full time.

I would caution you to be careful about any feed back from a bunch of strangers on the internet. Get yourself an accountant who knows REI in your state, and pose questions to them.

Find and join a local REI or land lord Association and attend meetings to get local perspectives on markets, LL/tenant laws and experiences etc.

Hang out here and search threads that may be relevant to you and your desires/needs.

Decide on your objectives from investing, taking into account your resources from financial and time perspectives. Only do what is relevant to you and objectives.

Be a sceptic, there is a lot of hype out there!

All the best! It can be a wonderful journey. 

What a great thread you started, Ryan!!

A common thread you can't help but notice if you spend time around here is that people hate their W2 jobs. Why? If you hate it why do it? 

I did lots of W2 jobs in my Working Joe career learned from all of them and got to work with many really great folks.

People find their way into guiding others by inspiring them. We don't know what you are good at, and what your niche might be. You need to define what it is you can offer the rest of us by making us the best version we can possibly be. We can all use a little help along the way perhaps more so in today's working world than ever before! All the best!

Very likely neither party will qualify on their own. You are just the landlord, don't get drawn into their scenario. It is what it is and you have a business to attend to. All the best!

I continue to be satisfied with Farmers. We have had our 'come to Jesus' issues-fire and flood and old buildings-but so far everything has gotten resolved with some old fashioned give and take. Get your agent to go to bat for you!

When I was actively buying and building my best leads came from my barber. Also find an REI or LL Association and network with members, surprising what comes up when you least expect it.

I don't like selling properties unless it creates an opportunity for something a lot better. It takes effort and money to turn a property into a money maker and that can get lost when you sell to say nothing of taxes etc. Use them as an asset to borrow against instead and if you can.

Don't leverage to the point where you can be forced to sell in a temporary or longer downturn. That is how investors get ruined, happens in all walks of REI investing.

Quit talking to and comparing yourself to your friends. Count your own money and forget about theirs. 

We always want more, bigger, longer etc.

Congrats on what you have achieved! All the best!

Cash flow hopefully covers expenses-many times does not even do that. Appreciation can make you rich. You will never get rich from CF. Know the numbers and always have enough money available to take you to the next step. If you are ever forced to sell you are very likely screwed. Always have a plan-or more than one. All the best!