All Forum Posts by: Shawn Pennington

I was using iBank (mac) until last summer and kinda developed my own way of tracking things.....until an accountant friend of mine was at my office and saw it open on my screen and said "What the hell is that???"  He then made it his life's mission to get me to switch to QB....and for the first two months I was completely lost and thinking "I can't do this...." Fast forward 7 months later..... I LOVE IT!! Its the best...Im still learning more and more everyday on how to use it to make my life easier.....but really...its the standard that most everyone uses....for a reason.   It just a learning curve like anything else.

Welcome aboard!

A couple years ago I rehabbed my first house......before I got a contractor involved I started on my own and got laminate counter tops from Lowes......for X amount (can't remember the price exactly), about a week later I hired a contractor to help me move things along....and he had a resource that could have gotten me granite for less than I paid for laminate.....  so you never know, worth a look around......

I would send it anyway (without tax id) to at least show that you've tried, and keep any correspondence showing their refusal to provide it to you.  Your still at risk of being penalized, but at least work on building your case in the event anything ever comes up.  And make sure that they (contractor) knows that you intend to wave the flag in your defense and throw him under bus, and tax evasion is a No-no! LOL  Maybe you can scare it out of him......if its a corporation a little digging would probably dig it up for you.....

And agree with Eddie...just make it standard practice to get it on the front end moving forward.

Just my two cents...

Personally What I would do is look for a "steal" of a property.....buy short sale, forclosure, etc etc something that you will gain equity the day you sign the papers.......bring the property up to value.....cash out refinance....pay off your student loan with the profit.......and have the property properly leveraged and cash flowing moving forward.....

Don't be afraid of rehab...i did my first two years ago....bought a property for about 50k under area comparbles.....put 15k in carpet, paint, counter tops, new light fixtures, doorknobs and such.......refi'd got my money back,and increase my net worth by 35k.....

My mentality now is "why ever pay retail again"

After I got out of high school I spent a good 6-7 years of my life getting covered up in bad debt/decisions....then a lightbulb went off in my head....began climbing my way out...and now the only "bad" debt I have is our personal home....which Id like to pay off, but then that would limit my ability to grow on the investment side of my life for a little while....  but other than that...we use credit cards basically to gain airline points, pay them off every month......I haven't had a car loan/lease that wasn't paid by one of my businesses for many years now........any other debt i have is properly leveraged to our benefit.....and watching our net worth number grow each month has become more addictive than any other rush that you get from buying things you don't need! LOL

Re: student loans, personally I subscribe to Will Hunting's theory (from Good Will Hunting) "You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library" LOL......  I didn't go to college.....Obviously there are certain fields that absolutely require advanced learning (doctors, lawyers, etc)  but unfortunately most fields don't support the investment in your degree.  Whats the point of going $100k in debt, or even $50k just to come out and make $20k a year to start for a few years......  Plus I personally feel like the world changes so fast now that by the time new info hits textbooks and the classroom the world has already advanced a few years and your relearning everything anyway.  And I don't know ONE single employer/business associate that ever actually asked for a copy of someones records, degree, etc while considering someone for a job.  

That I said.....there is a part of me that wishes that I DID go to college.....there are somethings that have seemed to take me 10 years longer to learn, that in my mind I should have learned during that time period.....it took me quite a while to realize that I could learn anything I wanted immediately if I just applied myself and "Figured it out" as I like to say.

Didn't mean to get on soap box...and hope I didn't offend anyone.....I just know very few people whose investment in college paid off for them (other than drs, lawyers, etc).....most are still in debt, and have changed fields in the long run..becase nobody knows what they are gonna do with their life at that point in their life anyhow!! LOL

Welcome!

I own a small general store, SFR converted to duplex, 12 unit self storage facility...and just recently purchased another SFR from tax sale that will be a rental as soon as rehab is done.

Thanks! Happy to be hear, excited to learn and agressively build my portfolio!