All Forum Posts by: James Murphey

Super inspiring, and a good reminder to balance work and life. 

Just started reading this.  I have also read David's other book.  David is good at taking something that is overwhelming, and breaking it down into achievable steps.  I am excited!

I plan on moving to Tennessee in the next year, and will probably buy my primary residence the same way.  You can order a car from Tesla, and never have test driven it.  Why not a property?  Technology today provides us with so many ways to check assets and to check the people checking for us.  Have you read David Greene's Book Long Distance Real Estate Investing? He goes over his step by step system of buying a property, and BRRRing it from a distance.  Hope this helps

@Joanne Hanson I am not a landlord, but I have helped my mom with her properties, and seen plenty of mistakes.  I have also read several books on land lording, and my favorite one so far is Mike Butler's Land lording on Autopilot.  He has some great systems that streamline the process. One tip he gives that I think is very valuable is to not identify yourself as the owner.  Introduce yourself and negotiate as the property manager.  This prevents the landlord vs tenant scenario, and keeps the tenant from trying to negotiate with you.  He also gives a process of showing property without even having to be there.  He screens tenants in a very clever efficient manner.  His system is almost completely digital too. When I do become a landlord I am going to implement several parts of his system.  Hope this helps . 

@Cole Jacobs I was looking at house-hacks here a few months ago. Unless you want to have room mates it seems the best you can do is just reduce your monthly housing expense, but to cancel it out or make it very low seems very difficult. It is not impossible I am sure, but those house-hacks where you get paid to live in MFR seem to be rare here. In some cases it would save more money to rent out a room in a house with some roommates, but then you are not building equity. Then there is Airbnb and all of the regulations that come with that, but I know people who have done really well. The market is starting to cool down here too. Anyways let us know what you end up doing. I am very interested.

@Casey Roloff That is awesome!  What is your end game?  If you are paying interest only for 5 years, what is your plan after that time? 

Jay Scott's book The book on Estimating Rehab Cost, and The Books on Flipping address having more then one layer.  From what I can recall it says it can be a real problem especially if it snows.  Because of the added weight can cause the roof to buckle or fall.  

I am so glad to be part of this community. It is information like this that prevent a dumb tax on members of BP. We are always looking for deals, but avoiding pitfalls is just as if not more important then getting a great deal. I was listening to the Morris Invest Podcast and YouTube Channel. I was considering using some IRA money to invest in the future. Thanks @James Wise this is valuable information.   

This is a tough one, with no right or wrong answer. Paying off your debt you essentially get 10-16% return. That is pretty awesome! If you are able to find an investment that makes a higher return, around 20% which is improbable, you would still only end up with a 4% return until those credit cards are paid off. I would have to be certain that my deal was a killer deal with an ROI that surpassed my credit card interest rate by a few percent. The other option I would explore would be a balance transfer or any other type of refinancing to get you lower interest rate, then purse the investment or at least you would have some time of 0% interest payments. Essentially get a for sure 10-16% return on your money or "potentially" wait and get a 4% return on your money and end up with a asset. You might potentially find yourself in a worse place if you make a bad deal too. May the force be with you!

Bitcoin is seems like it might be at the bottom ;) ;) I am looking to invest a large savings in the next year, so I am kind of in the same boat.  I would start by not even thinking about what your goals are necessarily, but what are you willing to struggle for.  What level of crap are you willing to put up with.  Mark Manson has a great book - The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**k.  Through the book he essentially describes picking your battles know what you want and are willing to struggle for.  Many people want to be rock stars few are willing to go through the humiliation of being booed ,and endless practice.  With that said, I like to think of what it is I am willing to deal with.  The idea of having hundreds of units brings with it an amount of stress I do not really want or am willing to struggle for.  I would love the cashflow though.  Sure there are systems that can be used to manage this, but there is no way that kind of investment is nearly as easy as a few SFRs or small MFRs.  That is what I am willing to suffer for.  Chad Carson has a great podcast titled Go small or go home.  I highly suggest it.  Gives some great insight.