All Forum Posts by: MarieChele Porter

@MarieChele Porter

I have long held the belief that you do not everyone to buy into your ideas... just enough someones to keep you moving forward.  Tell your story and you will find those someones that help help, guide, mentor, partner up with you to reach your goals and theirs.  It is funny how it works that way

I had a similar experience. The guy was telling me that I did not want to get in REI because it is too risky. I quickly dismissed his comments (in my mind, that is). I understand that all investing has an element of risk. So does driving a car. Like driving a car, we recognize and understand the risks and dangerous situation as we gain more experience.

MarieChele

After over 50 years investing in Norther California, I can tell you something for 100% sure:

Everyone has a bad real estate example from a neighbor that had an uncle whose son lived next to a lady that knew a guy that had a friend that had this terrible xyz real estate disaster.

Catch my idea? Not very credible.

It took me some time to come up with my own way of investing but at my high mark I had over 250 California rental houses.  

Did I make some mistakes?....Sure.  I also made plenty of mistakes on my previous W-2 job.  I can tell you that real estate held over the years can be very forgiving.....and profitable if buy the right kind of cash flow properties like I do.

Good luck.  Let me know if I can help.

Fixer Jay DeCima

Funny, this reminded me of when I was at a bar talking RE investment with a friend who is/was an investor and also a realtor ... I noticed this older guy next to us, long grey hair, kind of scraglly looking, with a "Yesemite Sam" type beard, by himself ... he kept nodding every once in awhile when I'd say something that he apparently agreed with, though he was not directly part of the conversation. So, I politely asked him if he had invested in RE. Turns out he had a decent sized portfolio of rental homes, then 1031'ed into several apartments, then 1031'ed that into several NNN commercial retail space over decades. This is SoCal we are talking, so NNN commercial retail is $5M-$10M+ a pop ... never in a million years would've guessed by looking that this guy sitting next to us was a RE tycoon. "The millionaire next door" had it right ... don't judge a book by its cover, many very wealthy and successful people out there you could learn from that are flying under the radar and you'd never guess by looking but can find out if you talk about it. I've seen it happen more than once, and I also would fall under a similar category, though not on the same scale as this guy in the bar, not yet anyway.

BTW, the fact that it is illiquid and hyper-local is what makes REI a great investment if you learn and know what you are doing, and a horrible investment if you don't. This fact creates opportunities, just a matter of which side of that opportunity you as an investor find yourself on.

Hi @MarieChele Porter!!

Great discussion topic! It's funny how people on the outside looking in are quick to dismiss real estate investing. You never know how they derived to that opinion, but I have a feeling that your friend probably has never purchased an investment home before. Those who actually are inside the game and have seen success will be quick to defend it!

REI is one of the best tools out there for anyone to create wealth for themselves. People who study personal wealth creation know that there are a few steps involved:

1. No matter what your income, pay yourself first

2. Live beneath your means, and save money for future investments

3. Use that saved money to purchase investments and make your money work for you

4. Repeat

That is a very brief, "in a nutshell" list of the process, but that is a summary of how to create wealth for a lot of people. The investments you purchase could be anything, but real estate is always a good solution. You can create more capital for yourself by flipping homes, and/or you can start purchasing rental properties to receive passive income. That's what it's all about! How can anyone argue with making an extra $1500 per month in their sleep?! I bought my friend who was skeptical about REI a Monopoly board game for his last birthday. I think he got the idea!

Good topic! And good luck to you!

Hang out with that guy more often if you don't like money and don't want to be rich.

I'm actually amazon how risk adverse the majority of people are. I know two separate couples, including my very best friend and his wife, who have over 350k in their bank account. Not invested into anything at all. Both couples have probably slightly above average income, and relatively small retirement accounts. 

I've talked to both couples at lengths about investing, not even just in real estate, but in a Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund. Neither couple has made any steps to invest. One couple is trying to "time to market" as they have believed that we are at the peak of the market and that it will drop at any moment. That thinking has cost them north of 60k+ in investment income. The other couple just does not feel secure yet, and wants to keep saving before they invest into anything.

Everyone has different opinions, neither of those couples really understand how I am so willing to buy properties or to invest into the stockmarket. Just like how I have no clue how they are comfortable letting their money sit in a bank account getting depreciated.

I actually have not invested yet. But I'm close to my savings goal and trying to decide where and how I want to/can invest. I'd like to do something soon and at the moment I'm a bit priced out of Miami. I'm from Cleveland so I have a good understanding of its market. I like the low cost point of entry and opportunity the midwest brings.

Hi MarieChele Porter I have yet to invest there but I plan to. It's a good cash flow market and great for flipping. But like most cities it's very neighborhood specific and the best locations aren't necessarily the neighborhoods everybody talks about.

I have not researched Columbus real estate but I do enjoy that city. It's very nice. But to say it's better than Cleveland in "every way" is extremely disingenuous.