All Forum Posts by: Evan Bell

What is your preferred means of relaxing or winding down or whatever you want to call it? Personally, I used to get home and immediately turn on Netflix and binge watch way too much mindless nonsense. Lately, I have had zero tolerance for such stuff. I start to turn Netflix on, and almost instantly I am already feeling bored and like I'm wasting time. I flip either to YouTube or one of my podcasts of choice to listen to or watch something investing related. It's like someone flipped a switch in my head and I now just crave as much information as I can get. And the more I get, the more I want. Grant Cardone would be proud, as the other day my wife told me I was obsessed. I got a nice warm and fuzzy feeling when the "O" word came out of her mouth at me.... Furthering my knowledge of investing is actually quite relaxing to me because it doesn't feel at all like work. It is 100% enjoyable for me to sit and read the BP forums or watch back to back to back episodes of Cardone's investing series on YouTube. Now, if we are talking about unplugging from REI completely, then my favorite things to do are spend time with my wife and daughter, and spend as much time outside, either in the mountains or at the beach, as possible. What do you gravitate towards?

That's awesome! Congrats on the first! It's a cool looking building too. I think it's funny when people say they don't want to invest in real estate because they are risk averse, so instead they rely solely on their W2 income. That seems like the riskiest play of all - the W2 only provides ONE stream of income and if you were to lose that job you'd be out of luck. Now compare that to investing, especially in multi family, which provides MULTIPLE streams of income. I know which one seems riskier to me....

Andrew Johnson if I could like this post ^^^^^^ more than once, I would!

I will be in Idaho for a family reunion on the 23rd, but I am definitely interested in attending any other meetups. Please keep me in the loop! Shiloh Lundahl Carlos Gonzalez

Omar Cantu so instead of taking "the easy way" out and getting rid of the truck, you want to take the hard way and keep it? Haven't you ever heard the saying about taking the path of least resistance? I was going to make a statement about getting your priorities straight, but that would be presumptuous of me. You have your priorities straight already. For your current desires and lifestyle, the truck is most important, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, once you realize the truck is a massive liability, you will be having the second light bulb moment of your journey - the first being the thought that you want to get into REI. When you realize that "things" are simply assets or liabilities it will be a huge mindset shift for you. Another shift is also to stop comparing your situation to anyone else's situation in regards to the "other people have more than $560 in expenses every month" statement. True, other people do, but you're not other people. There are people who can afford to have $50k+/mo in liabilities, yet are still able to do what you want to do. So, by that logic, you should be able to spend any amount of money every month and still be able to invest, right? Because other people are doing it....? Sadly, no. Everyone's situation is unique to them. You have to do you. Simple as that. I hope that second light bulb goes off for you - and I hope someday you come full circle and are on here giving advice to a new investor in a similar situation as you find yourself in right now.

Omar Cantu you need to listen to Grant Cardone and do WIT - whatever it takes - to realize your dream. Seeing as you live at home and have no bills, other than the self-inflicted truck payment, you are LEAPS AND BOUNDS ahead of where many of us started from. Get rid of the truck immediately. Buy an economical USED car and start living as frugally as possible. No going out to eat with friends, no spending money on anything that isn't 100% necessary, basically if it's not going to get you any closer to your goals - DON'T SPEND MONEY ON IT!! Talk to as many lenders as you can, and then, when you think you've talked to them all, talk to more. It took me many many phone calls to lenders before I found one that was willing to work with me. Stay persistent and stay positive. Just because one lender told you know, it's not the end of the world. Remember, every "NO" you get is one step closer to that "YES" you're looking for. It's a numbers game, plain and simple. I would suggest saving up a down payment towards an FHA loan for a duplex, triplex or quad. Live in one unit and rent the others out. You get experience being a landlord, and you get the benefits of owning rentals, and you get to live RENT FREE, making it easier to save towards your next purchase - your classic WIN WIN WIN scenario! Don't give up because ONE lender told you no. That's the first of many you're going to hear. If one no is all it takes to derail your investing dreams, then this isn't the world for you (this comes out of a place of tough love, not a**holeness BTW).

Never heard of this podcast - I'll check it out, thanks!

Benjamin Riehle sorry Ben, should have tagged you, and Scott as well.

Listened to it on my drive home from Tucson, where I spent the afternoon looking at properties, with an agent I met on BP!! This community is AWESOME!!

It may be hard to find a lender that will do a HELOC for your LLC. That is the hurdle we are tackling right now. I've talked with close to 15 different lenders before finding one that will give our LLC a HELOC. 10 year draw period with interest only payments at prime+1%, 20 year repayment with 60% LTV. It took some work to find, but we are glad we kept calling as many lenders as we did. Personally, I like the idea of using a HELOC instead of the cash out refi - just fits our plan better right now. Good luck with your decision.