All Forum Posts by: Charlotte Edwards

Thanks for that info Rolanda and Scott.

I think it's going to need a lot of work, but has potential. The realtor sent me the MLS listening,.I'll see if she can get me any other info.

Congrats on your purchase! We had to redo the basement floor in our first rental...it had laminate tiles (I think) that were popping up; we thought we could replace the bad ones but they don't make them anymore. I looked at various carpets and wooden flooring options but just couldn't bear to add more money to the house. Then my sister (who is managing the repairs) suggested painting it. It looks great. Now...to find tenants!

We are considering our second property and are interested in it because it's in a good school district and community with low crime. Our plan would be to rent it out until we move to the area; maybe 3-5 years from now.

The house we're looking at is listed 'as is' for $40k, but it was last sold for just $2,000 back in 2012, I believe. It appears that the floors are just plywood and there's a gap between the wall and door (from photos online).

So I'm wondering: why would it have sold for SO little...there must be a major issue, or am I wrong? What should I look for? Mold and asbestos are my first thoughts.

I think that if we can get it for well under 40k, it would be worth putting 10-20k worth of repairs into it to make it rent-ready.

Congratulations on your success @Austin Fruechting! Very inspirational...going to show this to my husband to show him that it's possible.

Listened to this after an exhausting day at work...cannot wait until we get to do REI full time. This show was very inspirational and I hope to get my kids involved as Brandon and Tim said they (will) do.

Thanks for the great content...and I also enjoyed Mindy on the show today. It's nice to hear a woman's perspective and input since this seems to be a male dominated field.

@Brian Garrett

We paid cash for our first, bought two months ago and listed for rent today. Trying to decide to pursue a second (initial plan) but there have been more issues in this long-distance land lording than we anticipated (we'd considered this for a few years; just a lot of unexpected happened), so husband wants to invest in bonds as he's started reading up on investing.

I'm in the "pay cash" camp. I understand both sides, but having paid off student loan debt and buying a house, and saving up cash for two more in the USA, I'm not a fan of debt. And I couldn't get a loan if I wanted, so I'm kind of stuck in this anyway. (I actually have great credit score, but have worked abroad since college making a super low salary by US standards).

I can see both sides of this, and I've been the mentor to several others in another area of my life. I've freely given them all the info they need to earn much-needed cash and they don't. Just tonight one woman I've been informally mentoring to (giving her job leads, even telling her how to set up stuff so she could earn $100 today) goes into a group chat and complains how slow going it is for her and how she'll have to fall back into the career path she loathes

What she lacks is the drive and focus that I have (and I'll admit, I'm not functioning half as well as I'd like). It's getting frustrating and I sometimes regret the time that I've given these people, but I do believe I'll benefit from it in some way in the future.

So in telling these people something, they most likely won't be your competition. I'd guess 80% of them will not do a darn thing. The others will, but they'll have something that sets them apart from you.

And as a newbie to REI, I've probably asked questions like this, and I've certainly searched for plenty of info on here that other people have questioned about before me.

BTW, congrats on all of your success!

  Try connecting with @Tim Hoffman. He's a wholesaler in Rockford; I've not worked with him, but he's been helpful in answering questions I've posted on here.

@Antwaun Johnson

Congrats @David Zheng Very happy for you and your willingness to sacrifice to win will get you far!

I can totally relate to the Asian parents...I'm married to one and the daughter in law of two! And that's why they're not going to know of our REI for quite awhile！