All Forum Posts by: Charles Ho

Holy COW, this blew up!  I had no idea, but it's encouraging that this forum has such an active and diversified member base.  It's awesome knowing you'll get some knowledgeable and non-snippy responses!

As many of you mentioned, there are going to be a variety of responses and there really isn't a "right" answer, but the key is finding what I'm comfortable with and what my wife will be on board with.  

We talked about it some more this weekend, and she's worried if I achieve FI through RE, I'll become a lazy bum ;-)  I argue there are so many things I would LIKE to do, but can't because I'm burnt out from the 8-5 corporate world and just want to relax and spend time with my family when I'm home.  She said I'm not a very good self-motivator (which is true) and I'm really going to have to show her I can motivate myself to do the things I want to do when I'm FI.  

Some of you asked, and yes I DO self manage my portfolio.  I actually work for a pretty large brokerage firm, am 7 and 66 licensed.  I've been working on my 9/10, and my wife said if I can motivate myself to finish the 9/10, she'll let me buy another property and see how that goes!

Thanks for all the responses, it'll definitely take some time to digest it all!  I did have one question though:  Some of you mentioned the pros of real estate investing is you're buying locally instead of competing with people worldwide (stock market).  I definitely appreciate that side of real estate investing, and would be more comfortable buying something close by so I know the area more, and can inspect the property in person.  Others of you have mentioned the returns of buying outside of your demographic area.  My question is, how did you become comfortable buying outside of your area or out of state, and how do you make sure the property is a. a value and b. in good, proper condition?

Thanks again SOOO much for all of your responses, it's SUPER encouraging!  I will definitely be reaching out to some of you individually to ask for advice in the future!

Wow, I wasn't expecting THIS negative of a reaction towards the stock market!

Just like the real-estate market though, I don't believe in market timing, so although the market may be "extremely high" right now (if you disregard the last few weeks), historically the stock market has annualized double digit returns.  

Those who dumped the stock market in 08 due to the crash missed 30%+ returns in 09.  Those who thought the market was at an all time high in 12-13 again missed 20%+ returns in 13-14.

The stock market affords me liquidity and less on-hand management and less "expertise" so you will.  The real estate market scares me because I'm a 100% novice at it, use a property manager, and am unsure how to fully navigate the tax benefits.

I'm definitely very interested in getting a rental property, mainly for the points brought up: leverage and cash flow.  The difficult part is knowing if I'm getting a good property.  As some of you have said, my current rental property doesn't seem to be performing well... but when I look at comps as far as home prices and rental/sq ft, it seems on par... Is northern california just tough?

Coming across this website and the Financial Independence subreddit, I've gotten an itch to increase my rental real estate portfolio to start generating residual income.  My wife and I sat down together to look at our finances, and she thinks it's a bad idea.

Where we currently stand, we own a rental home and our primary residence outright, with no loan.  Rental home is worth about 450k, generates about 2k/month in rental income.  Primary residence is probably worth about 600k+.  

Our stock/investment portfolio, including Roth IRAs and 401ks are worth about 600k.  Of that, about 250k is in taxable accounts that we could withdraw if needed.

My wife's argument is by buying another rental property, we would be dipping into the 250k and we would be overweight in real estate vs. stocks if you don't count the 401ks and IRAs.  She thinks it'd be more wise to have the 250k in our stock portfolio, so we're more diversified and also because it's more liquid.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Is she right?

Thanks!!!

Charles

Hey everyone,

Found out about this website from the Financial Independence sub on Reddit.  I'm currently 31, married with two kids and a third on the way.  I work full time in a corporate job, but constantly dream of financial independence.  

I currently own my primary residence as well as a rental property.  I'm scared of "leveraging" but I also want to aggressively build my real-estate portfolio so it can generate residual income.  I'm looking to be able to quit my full time job and have real estate supplement my income, but I'm scared to go all in, especially with a young family and things like health insurance.

I'm looking forward to expanding my knowledge and interacting with people here who've been successful in achieving financial independence through real estate!

- Charles