All Forum Posts by: Michael Lynn

Hi everyone, I’m looking for perspective as my wife and I weigh two options: kick-off our real estate investing with long-term rentals or short-term rentals.

I’m open to other suggestions, but I've tried to narrow our focus, and these seem to be in line with our interests and goals.

1. Short-term rentals: Start with vacation properties we’d use ourselves, maybe Marble Falls or Canyon Lake, and build the property as a destination (like my friend Mike Elefante has done). The value I see here is the potential for greater cashflow, and a property we can use ourselves. Possible downsides include putting all of our initial investment into a single property, we might not be able to find a property in our price-range, and taking a bit of a gamble on occupancy.

2. Long-term rentals: Someplace like San Antonio where we could purchase a handful of mid $100k homes in quick succession. Pros I see are securing a long-term renter, the potential for buying several properties in (relatively) quick succession, and spreading our investment. Possible cons are smaller cashflow potential, and the double-edge sword of dealing with a single renter.

We live in Dripping Springs just outside of Austin, TX and both work remotely from home. Our goal is financial freedom and ultimately independent wealth so we can travel freely as a family.

We do not have a team yet, and we'll be starting with at least $65k cash to pursue loans. I have an LLC from another venture that never took off that we plan to fold everything under down the road.

I appreciate any help and thoughts you may have.

Hi everyone,

I'm Mike, and my family and I live just outside Austin Texas in Dripping Springs. My wife and I work remotely from home for tech companies - we're both program managers, and both former Air Force. She grew up just outside Boston, MA, and I moved around the northeast as a kid (Buffalo, Boston, Ottawa). With the Air Force we were stationed in New Jersey, DC, and Northern California. We're still kicking ourselves for not buying and holding in DC, but we're taking it as a learning opportunity. 

We have two young daughters (7, 2), and our goal is to gain financial freedom and independent wealth so we can travel regularly as a family and pursue a number of passions we've had on hold. Our eldest daughter also attends a very entrepreneurial-minded school (Acton Academy), and I want to loop both girls into the business so they can learn the skills and have it as an option as they grow.

I appreciate all the information available here, and look forward to working with others

Mike