All Forum Posts by: Charlotte Edwards

I'm married, with kids, work what I consider three part-time jobs while husband works a full-time one. We're debt free and want to diversify our money and have a house in the USA (we live in China now).

A property manager and my sister are/will be helping us (closing on first SFH next week） and we plan to buy a few more in the coming years. Right now the rental income will go towards buying the next, and so on. Ideally in five years, we'll have five or so properties and enough income from them to live on and husband can manage (maybe) while I continue freelancing (the portable and most favorite of my three jobs) and our kids go to school in America.

We've talked about this for a few years now, and only finally made the jump because of currency values changing, plus hubby hearing about a former colleague who's now in the USA and whose husband doesn't work but just manages their five rentals. That gave him the push to decide it's the right time. We're 34 and 41, so we've got quite a bit of time to learn the ropes and profit. Over the year's I've read blogs and listened to numerous REI related podcasts so I feel I know a lot, but as we go through the buying process, I feel like I know all the WRONG things about REI (and I think my realtor isn't the greatest...). But I feel like this is a good path to financial freedom and allowing us to give our kids a good education/start in life and provide for our retirement.

I'll be in the area for most of July/August so I'll certainly join in if there's a meet up held during that time.

Congrats on a great year @David Zheng! That's really inspiring. I'm about ten years older than you and just now getting into REI (of course never even thought about it at age 25; was working hard to pay off my student loans, and owning a property only became a possibility in the last couple years) and I can tell you (as a married mom), your future self, partner and kids will thank you for all the sacrifices that you've made to achieve this.

I look forward to hearing more about your success.

Thanks for all the input @Kyle N. @Tim Hoffman @Lois Ginter and @Craig Wilcox

I'm going to stay up late tonight (another downside of being on the other side of the world) making calls to several companies to get a feel for how they are similar and different and, possibly, be back with more questions.

Congratulations! We're, fingers crossed, a few weeks away from closing on our first property. Exciting times in our lives!

Just wondering if any of you in the Rockford area, who use PM companies, can suggest one that you use/would use if you didn't self-manage. I've got a list of questions that I'll ask, but am overwhelmed at the sheer number of choices.

Thanks for the input! I've got a lot to learn. Really appreciate your replies!

I'm not local, nor handy at all. I'll hire this out.

It's a cash purchase. The inspector said that structurally it's fine. But all the neighboring houses still have theirs; no idea why this one doesn't.

Thanks for your reply. I honestly know very little about what there is, and I've never done any DIY on a home.

I'd been told about $300-500 as a ballpark figure, so was just looking for numbers from those who've done it.

I'm out of the country and haven't seen more than two pictures of the porch.

We've put in an offer on a home and the front porch supports are missing. THe seller won't replace them but offered $200. Is this reasonable? It seems there are 4-5 supports that need replaced. A friend estimates they're about $50/each to do. Anyone have experience with this and the costs?

I'm thinking we'll just do the bare minimum; nothing fancy to make them look pretty.

@Bill R. Thanks for sharing that; I used to not realize that but now I live in China and I see more BMWs outside my window than I saw in two months in the Midwest last summer! My colleagues, who make 1/5th of what I do buy luxury brands and wonder why I don't as well.