All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

Epic! There can't be many 21 year olds with a deal like that under their belt!

I'm not planning on trying to retire off $850 a month, but it's a start. Glad a few of us saw the satire in my little story!  If I close the current deal and do a few more similar deals in the next couple years I'll be in pretty good shape. But I won't be stopping my consulting work anytime soon or I definitely will be eating off the dollar menu :)

@Austin Fruechting , looks like we're very much on the same wavelength. I think there is a big difference between mental laziness and physical laziness that many people ignore. Love your post! 

@Brian Pulaski I'm back in WA now, but have plenty of flexibility with my consulting work to fly back if necessary, which I have budgeted into my monthly figures :)

@Andrea Mas we actually have the same goal it looks like - 20 by 2030. My master plan is already sticky noted to my office wall haha. I might be able to help with the full-time travel goal. My specialty is helping people get professional jobs, largely in remote companies so they can do what I did all last year. I realize how ironic that is to say after writing an article on laziness, but feel free to PM me!

@Nicole Heasley Beitenman I'm buying near 185th up by the lake and looking at a couple areas like Old Brooklyn as well.

Some very good points indeed @Aaron Mazzrillo . Fortunately, the property already has a well and power on it that I could hook up to. But you're right, moving it around the property would be a big issue. I'd probably look to build the place to be as self-sustaining as possible. So a toilet/water/power system equivalent to what you'd find in an RV. 

Upon further investigation, I am definitely low balling. Looks like 30-40k for a decent setup. 

@Jon Crosby that's great you've been out to experience Leavenworth. It's quite a cool place! The figures are rough, but I do want to be very conservative with the numbers. I've got one duplex so far so I'm starting to get a better grasp on all the other costs it takes to run a rental. 

It would be a very specific market, but I think people are really starting to like the idea. Here is a comp from across the river in a much less desirable housing community with no waterfront access. It's a tiny house going for $85/night and has 257 airbnb ratings since late 2014. That's about 200 more than any other property in the area. The owners have two of them and they're both currently booked every weekend until the end of September. About 10 nights a month it looks like. 

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3390025?location=Leav...

Based on their numbers I could be looking at $850/month gross. That's not too bad even for a 40k property. I've got some serious pondering to do!

Ouch, that airbnb issue is quite a roadblock for the original plan. 

I moved back here from Australia last year because i wanted to tap into some of the potential Tacoma has. I can't believe how much stuff is happening here in the real estate/business world. 

Are these houses ones you've got under contract? I've been keeping my eye out for a good flip deal lately so you've peaked my interest for sure!

I've got a pretty unique and fortunate opportunity that I'm thinking about and I'd love some insights.

My parents own a vacation cabin near Leavenworth, WA, with about 500 feet of usable riverfront. It's about 3 hours from where I live. They'll probably build another cabin on a lot they just bought next door. Probably a few years out.  So in the meantime, I'm thinking of building/buying a tiny cabin that I can plop down by the riverbank and AirBNB it. I'd have free land use and could move it to another side of the property if they built and kicked me out. I reckon $75 a night is very conservative. The private waterfront, proximity to a tourist Bavarian village, 15 mins to 2 lakes and a golf course, and 35 mins to a ski resort makes it a pretty prime location. I figure summer and winter it could go for $100+/night, but I won't count on it. Plus, I'd love to just go out and use it when I have time. 

Even at $75 that's only 266 nights to get paid back in full. I think that's pretty doable over the course of a few years. More optimistically, I could potentially keep it booked all winter and summer at $100, so let's assume 150 days right there. Not a bad ROI eh?

Here are the potential pitfalls and solutions I'm pondering so far. Please fire away with more potential problems with this plan!

• Going into business with family. - already have done successfully in the past. get it in writing.
• Getting kicked out - find a new lot to rent on or sell the thing
• Management/cleaning - find a local host to do it
• Changes to local laws are subject to change on me

Any thoughts are appreciated!

Sounds like you've done a bit of homework on the risks and costs. I'd still probably double your estimated expenses just to be safe, though. As the others have mentioned, a boat isn't really much of an investment, but it could be a viable business expense as long as you understand the workload you're taking on with it. But that would likely draw you further away from other real estate investing so be careful where your time and money are going.

Speaking of the other business, I had a look at your profile and I'm kind of surprised we haven't bumped into each other. I'm pretty involved in Tacoma as well and it's a pretty tight circle out here. Are you involved with spaceworks by chance?

In a couple weeks I'll be up to about 1500 cash flow, but you're right, I definitely couldn't afford brunch on $850. I have a couple consulting clients that help pay the bills, the main one is the tech firm.

Welcome Max, you're in the right place if you're looking for mentors. It's pretty intimidating getting started, but stick with it. I might recommend going to your local tax foreclosure auction if you want to meet people. You'll meet a lot of high volume real estate investors. I'm 26 and almost nobody our age is talking about investing in real estate so you've gotta go find another group to hang out with!

I’ve always been the laziest person I know. By far. From childhood, I never really saw the point of having a job. I knew some people didn’t have jobs, but made a ton of money and did whatever they wanted. I just figured I’d rather be one of them instead. Classic Rich Dad Poor Dad move, I know.

The “old” people in my life were all regretting their younger years and talking about how they can’t wait until they retire at 65 to go on a cruise with a hoard of other 350lb diabetic retirees. Well, guess what, I went on a cruise when I was 15. Why should I have to wait another 50 years to do it again?

I’m a millennial. I want to be lazy now. Not when I’m 65.

My peers at college were all excited about being adults and getting jobs. Meanwhile, I was doing everything I could to not get a job. I had to get creative since I didn’t have a whole lot of support on my mission of laziness. I built websites, sold photography, flipped cars, day traded stocks, started a house painting business, etc., but had this weird dilemma at 22 years old where I still wasn’t rich. In fact, I was as broke as ever. So I did the most rational thing I could think of and moved to Australia, the magical land where people intentionally lose money in real estate.

One real job and a few more failed side hustles later I wanted to get serious about real estate. But banks won’t even let me through the front door. All my failed endeavors led me to be a “strategic business consultant,” meaning “I’m an expert at driving a business into the ground so you should pay me to tell you what not to do.” It’s not the most stable line of work.

Anyhow, a year ago I found some well paying consulting gig that could be done via my trusty MacBook. I ended my lease in Melbourne and somehow saved $25k while partying around Europe all of summer 2016. I’m very serious about real estate at this point, obviously.

Got back to the US and went, oh, apparently you can’t buy a house in Seattle for 25k with no job. Damn. But it turns out you can in Cleveland, Ohio. So back to the airport I went.

After aimlessly driving around Cleveland for a week, I remembered that if I wanted to truly fit in with the other millennials, I had to be broke. So I had no choice but to get rid of the 25k or be forever exiled by my peers.

At the airport, on my way back to Seattle I signed a cash offer for $24.5k on a rundown duplex. It’s not like I’d spend all $25k, duh. I’m no idiot.

Nope, just kidding. I might be just a little bit. It was a disaster. Everything went wrong. But at least I’m back in with the hipsters. As long as I don’t tell them I’m cash flowing $850.

Flash forward 8 months and you’ll be glad to know I’m still as lazy as ever. But damn, being lazy is a lot of work. I suppose that’s why I’m using 100% someone else’s money for my next deal. The deal I just now e-signed while sitting in my underwear on the couch. The same deal that inspired this fine literary achievement. A couple more deals like this and I can retire and be full-time Funemployed.

Now, my next challenge as an overly entitled millennial is figuring out what to do with the next 39 years until my friends retire. I’m open to ideas.

Well, I’m getting hungry so I’m going to wrap this up and get started. You’re only 26 once, I guess.

Time to put some pants on and go for brunch. 

Ryan

Good point @Matt Katsaris. Emotions will lose you a lot of money in real estate. Maybe invest 5k to get it fixed up and sell, assuming you will get your 5k back. If it is a decent deal, you should be able to find a buyer, if not, I'd look elsewhere.