All Forum Posts by: Jim S.

Looking forward to listening to this one.  In my humble opinion knowing what not to do is sometimes even more important than knowing what TO DO.

I have a daughter in college who just signed a lease with friends for next school year.  What she is paying in rent is highway robbery but it's in line with what student rentals at her school are going for.  Part of me wants to jump on the train and buy some properties to rent to students.  Then the other part of me remembers 30 years ago in my own "Animal House" days in college and the abuse that student housing sometimes took.  I can remember some pretty trashed apartments and houses by the end of the school year and I remember that they didn't start out that way at the beginning of the school year.

I've been the hard money lender on some previous deals and have also partnered on a few deals in the past but am looking to start doing this on my own.  The previous deals I was a partner in were fix & flips and my partners were contractor/investors but I'm initially looking at wholesaling as it seems like a safer, less risky way to get started on my own.  Also I'm not the handiest person in the world when it comes to fixing up a house so wholesaling just seems like a better way to get my feet wet.

My wife and I have worked together in the past with mixed results.  The only way to divide your work life from your personal life is to agree to not talk business during non-business hours- and then stick to that rule.  Of course there are exceptions to this when something comes up and you'll have to, but try to make it the exception rather than the rule.  Nothing ruins a Thanksgiving dinner quite like a nice work discussion!

Very inspiring story.  Just goes to show that you really need to persevere to make it in this business.

I'm 54 and have invested in a handful of flips over the last decade. Up until now I've mainly been the money man for a couple of different investor contractors and haven't been very involved in the actual transactions themselves. In the last six months I've been doing a lot of studying the REI business and recently found Bigger Pockets which is full of great information. I am planning to start doing some deals on my own after the first of the year.

One of the advantages to starting later is that between savings and equity in my own home, I have good working capital that I wouldn't have had at a younger age.  

I don't think you're ever really too old to start.

Not working out and eating poorly can really be a vicious circle.  I'll go weeks or months where I work out regularly, eat right and feel great.  Then something will cause things to fall apart.  A week of travel, being sick or something like that.  Before I know it, I'm not going to the gym and then I find myself falling back into poor eating habits which really does effect my motivation and work.  Thankfully I'm usually able to get back at it pretty quickly  The trick for me is finding the right time of day to workout- and this can change depending on what's going on in my life. Mornings seem to be best for me, but it can be really hard to drag my butt out of bed on a cold Ohio January morning.  After work or early evening can be a good time too but that can really get thrown off if I end up working late or having a really tiring day.  I've even tried working out during lunchtime but it can be hard to squeeze in the necessary time for a good workout in the middle of the workday.  The best advice I ever received with regard to working out, was to treat it like a job and make it a requirement, not an option.