All Forum Posts by: Michael Wagner

Dave Savage,

I am, of course, interested in meeting up. Tough part is that I am out of town just about everyday until Mid August with very few exceptions. After that though, I'm game.

Mark Turner...Thank you so much for your generous support of www.ourhaitihouse.com. You are awesome! PM to follow.

Mark Turner- Thanks for the kind words. It was good to meet you. Seeing as how we are so close, we should get together some day or evening soon.

Mike Ware--Thank you so much for your generous donation to www.ourhaitihouse.com. Very kind of you. Looking forward to our next get together.

Dave Savage--Thank you also for your generous donation to the above cause.

You guys are awesome, thanks again!

Wanted to thank Mike Ware and Dave Savage...the first two BP'ers to contribute to the great cause. Thanks guys!!!!!

No question is stupid Jimmy Moncrief! We do not own the house after raising the funds to build it. It will be owned by the family that moves into it. The house will be in a "self-sustaining" village of 50-100 houses, a community center, a school and a clinic. It's a great charity for many reasons but one thing in particular that I like is that it operates from a "philanthro-capitalist" perspective meaning they help the indigent with housing and services but always in a way to prevent an "entitlement mentality". Its about empowering people, not supporting them. As an investor, this really hits home with me. Hoping it might with others on here as well.

I'm happy to answer any other questions!

Hi and thanks for reading this. Please check out www.ourhaitihouse.com. The deal is outlined in detail and is pretty self-explanatory. Incredible ROI here when you factor in the huge impact made by this development deal. :)

Thanks Dave Savage! I had a lot of fun at the FFREIA meeting and enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Hopefully folks were able to walk away with some new knowledge/ideas. Don't forget about www.ourhaitihouse.com:) (Note to moderator....nothing for sale here so hoping its okay to post....if not, please accept my sincere apologies)

Great question Matt! Like many commercial REI, I got my feet wet in residential multi-families. I knew that I wanted to invest full time and leave the JOB and my idea for doing so was to buy 100 units each cash flowing at $100-$200 per unit which would give me a very comfortable living. I made it to 31 units in 4 years but quickly realized that it was going to take FAR TOO LONG to buy the next 70. I wanted out of my job like yesterday. So I started looking at forms of commercial real estate that could be both an investment and a TEMPORARY JOB. That's when I stumbled upon self storage. With my wife's blessing, I quit my relatively good paying job and bought a facility that was losing $2,000 per month. We knew that all it needed was an operational overhaul to get it profitable so we dove in. I performed the day to day operation for about 18 months. Since then, I have hired a manager and now bring home the same amount of money that I did in my JOB from that facility but I only dedicate 1 day per week to hands on management. In process of buying facility number two!

There have definitely been headaches/low points but they are overshadowed by the many benefits. The freedom of "controlling my own destiny" has contributed more to my happiness than anything else (including the residual income). So much so that the break in that we experienced a few short months after I took over, was handled more or less in stride.

I still own 25 residential units and without having sharpened my teeth on them, I would not have had the ability or confidence to buy a storage facility. That being said, I have proven far better at managing storage than at managing apartments so I don't see myself going back to residential.....

Thanks for the plug Dave Savage! I look forward to meeting you and hope that lots of BPer's can make it! I do want to add a bit of a disclaimer though. I am far from a polished speaker so this is going to be a super informal presentation. Hopefully I can facilitate a good back and forth discussion so those who can make it get the info they are looking for.

Adam B.,

How did this play out? Would love to hear an update. And please feel free to share the details of your deal. us Storage guys love to hear what others have going on!