All Forum Posts by: Devin James

True, but it's foolish to invest without a basic understanding of how to purchase and manage the investment. And I would argue purchasing is easier than managing.

Luke 14:28-30 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

@Devin James Reading is the habit that changed my life.

Almost any time I want to learn something new I can locate a book or two or three on the subject and spend very little money to broaden my horizons.

The second habit that has helped me track my finances is that I’ve created a personal spreadsheet that I fill out at least once a month that tracks certain financial metrics I’m interested in comparing. Specifically I now track month end account balances, maintenance expenses and have a detailed list at my fingertips of the tenants that are late on their rents.

I’ve found keeping this data in a spreadsheet is more useful than trying to sift through P&Ls from QBO.

@Devin James The 1 habit that changed my life is I started prioritizing wants vs needs. 

Almost every dollar I make (active or passive) has a job when it hits my bank account. If I want to buy something I leave it in my shopping cart for days before buying it. I circle back and think about my budget. I think about how purchases affect my personal goals, our tenants, and people I buy gifts for. 

This habit is critical for real estate investors because it forces the maximum ROI out of every dollar spent. Whether it's buying the first property, remodeling, renting, or selling it slows you down and eliminates impulse decisions.

land entitlement is a great move in florida. just gotta have deep pockets to play! I just paid my attorney 15k today in just fees for 4 entitlement contract red lines and we arnt even under contract yet! 

PS I owe our success to this project to my Wife.. if we listened to our GC he would have put in what all the other  GC or builders do.. Its all her vision.. I just make sure we have the funding to make the project go.. And of course find the project and run it through entitlements so I have something to contribute :)

for us we do very little marketing we rely on MLS what we do to compete is spend an extra 10k or so per house with upgrades other builders simply wont do.. All geared towards the MRS. who as we know is the major decision maker.. So spend NO money on advertising and use that money to make our product stand out..

this has led us to raise our prices Far above our competition more than makes up for it and we sell them as fast as we can build them.. for us thats delivering 2.5 homes per month.

 Yes!
Great book as well especially for getting everyone focused towards a common goal.  I still use the checklists/grading system for staff evaluation.