All Forum Posts by: Jonathan R.

Thanks for your reply, Jay! It’s really cool to have you on this thread. 

Yes, landlording is active, I’m more active than most even I suspect. Though, I feel I can run and hide if I want to for a good long period. Not having to rely on a paycheck I suppose I mean. My goal is at least 6 revenue streams (as close to passive as possible) in the next seven years or so. It will all have been built on the foundation of low income housing. I second and third guessed myself for awhile, hard to be convinced otherwise that owning in areas most other investors shy away from can be lucrative. 

@Jared Viernes @Shardae Robinson @Jimmy Dang @Jason Lavender @Shane H. @James Galla @Dennis M. @Melody Kushi @Caleb Heimsoth

This has been an interesting couple months for me and I want to share my ending revelation from all this. Perhaps this is a topic of its own but I figure I’ll share here. For me, this is all bigger than money. One of my disabled Section 8 tenants (he’s been with me the whole time, cool dude) had a stroke and was in the hospital for a month. His sister apparently flipped a switch or something on his refrigerator during his hospital visit and all his food spoiled. I was there last week with my contractor, my tenant didn’t realize apparently how bad his house stank, so we aired out the whole house and sprayed the fridge and put baking soda in there to help the smell for 30 days or so. The quality of this man’s end of life will be drastically impacted by my company, big responsibility.

I volunteer coach 5 soccer teams and while congratulating one of my players, I noticed his teary eyed mother, whom I have come to know at a distance over the last few years; I immediately asked the matter and she quietly let me know they were living in a hotel and were officially homeless, she said her mother hadn’t spent the rent and bill money wisely. I asked her to call me if they get to where they need to check into a shelter and I may be able to place them in one of my properties, she appeared open.

I’m proud of what we (my wife and I) have accomplished in the last three years. Financial freedom is tough with rental properties, it’s crawling to financial freedom. I’ve learned to be okay living with next to nothing in order to be able to invest in areas of the city that need investment. Now that I’m probably 3/4 or so to fi, I don’t care about materialistic things anymore (my wife and kids might), I’m concerned with providing a job for my contractor, an amazing home for a 65 year old minority man, a place to go for a struggling 8 year old soccer player and his mother, painting graffiti off dilapidated houses in areas that need leaders etc. 

This house may sell for a great profit, at which I’ll roll every dime into more properties, but this is bigger than me. Removing blight, facing injustice, working hard, rewarding others, being bigger than one’s self. To my BP friends, please keep spreading the word of financial freedom, it’s bazaar how you feel when you get closer and closer. Life for me is about beginning the transition from being selfish to selfless. Thank you for your friendship.

@Shardae Robinson thank you for keeping this thread alive!!! Yeah, it means a lot to have a cool win like this. For years other investors have had me question what I’m doing, granted I couldn’t have afforded to invest (back when I began) in other asset classes. To be told an asset I am all in around 29k for is worth 66k plus is too fun. 

List available units for both section 8 and non. I would try to get the scales to tilt into more of those 12 being Section 8 units than not. Like Dennis mentioned above, it might be a pain in the butt to convert to Section 8 units and work with the housing authority, but it will be worth it when you make the change.

 Sorry, I think my post got confused. I am meaning an example like this... My office will approve someone say for a two bedroom voucher, the office will tell the person they are qualified for a $650 rent amount if the landlord pays some utilities. I’ll send the prospective tenant back into the section 8 office with a signed voucher at $695 and only pay the trash service. Despite this being as a whole about $100 more than section 8 office told the tenant they are willing to pay on their behalf, they still agree and pay it on the backend because it isn’t too far off. 

@Chan K. Everything I do is Section 8, I prefer them to B and C class renters. Get and handyman once a year and pass the failed inspection. Or better yet, get six section tenants and be financially free with paid off properties. If your home is in an A area, I’d consider going without section 8 deposits, but outside of that, I love getting my money from the gov’t on time.

Mine say that too, then we sign at a different amount that is higher and they always make it work and never say anything. Have you tried to mark one of your units up $100 more a month and sign a voucher? They would really deny subsidizing over such a small amount? 

 What would you do with 69k in the ICT?

My wife and I lived in Lawrence for six years. She is a KU grad, I went to Baker. If you like wine, might I recommend Bluejacket Crossing and Davenport in Eudora, KS. Oh how we miss India Palace on 10th and New Hampshire with a glass of Taj Mahal (An Indian beer that tastes great with Indian food).

Thank you for your reply! I’m sure I’ll make the lunch. This one is west. It’d make a great college rental or sfh. You can see the stadium from two houses down. Fingers crossed.