All Forum Posts by: Shanti S.

1.P/T REI with a F/T JOB

2. <1 year, bought first investment property 6 months ago

3. 2 singles, 1 building lot

4. Bigger pockets, podcasts, books, REIA contacts. But most valuable resource is just doing it....I could read something a few times over and not understand it the same was as actually going through the experience

5. I would have started 20 years ago right out of high school and wish I'd had a good mentor back then

not as political, but one of my all time favorites:

If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?

Thanks James and Jawsette. Educational thread - much of the reason I distrust the stock market and have not done well in it is that I'm not willing to devote the schooling time to become competently educated at it.....just doesn't appeal to me. My 401k is currently captive but the rest of it will be rolled into my SD Roth IRA at the earliest opportunity!

Great thread though!

While hardcopy isn't going away anytime soon and has some advantages (no batteries, cheap, loanable, free at the library, doesn't cost a mint if you get it wet or lose it, etc),

The Kindle and the iPad and the e-books available on such devices will continue to gain ground I think.

Having the ability to download any book you want in seconds over the cell network, as well as carry your entire library with you at all times, plus search it and bookmark it, have it read to you when driving, and be able to take notes and look up words in the dictionary, etc....that's pretty neat too, and it keeps getting better.

I'll look forward to the ebook, Rich!

maybe you could wrap those tires in some black duct tape so you wear out the tape instead of the fancy speed rated low durometer high dollar rubber :-)

If it works, please post in the "how I save money" thread

oh no...not Facebook...I can just see the quality of the posts tanking....

"I just got another call from a bandit sign."

"My coffee this AM tastes funny."

"I am standing in line at the grocery store thinking about whether single families or multifamilies are more better."

good luck Josh, if you get enough to buy a private island will you have us over for a party?

@James, regarding there being no corollary to selling short in REI, wouldn't you say that savvy investors selling off their properties while they were still appreciating into a bubble be somewhat the same idea? When everyone else is convinced the sky is the limit, they know that the trend can't continue....

Gold is not an investment it's an inflation hedge / form of cash. But the prices are vulnerable to manipulation just like the stock market, plus it doesn't have any of the investing advantages of real estate - leverage, tax benefits, personal control.....

my primary residence is with B of A, I've never been late on a payment but they just sent me a letter asking me if I need a loan restructuring and gave me someone to contact about it - I'll see what they're willing to do and let y'all know if I have any success!

I know some investors have successfully restructured, even without every showing any hardship....

Yep. Buying the RIGHT vehicle for you too. You'll have no probs finding reasonable parts and reasonable mechanics that can work on those Chevy's.

I bought a 2000 VW diesel Jetta used in 2003. The dealer wanted $13,500, I talked him down to $10k by complaining about the 75k miles on it.

I put another 225k on it, getting 50mpg, over the next 6 years and it broke last summer at 300k. Not recommending anyone buy a VW unless they know how to work on them because the dealers and parts and mechanics are generally $$$$, but getting 50mpg for 6 years was great.

Another saving tip - if you still think you're being nice to your car by changing the oil every 3k, think again! You are probably just throwing money away, most mfr's recommend 7500-10k oil change intervals now.

Same for super unleaded, unless you drive a turbo it's probably a waste of $ - again, check the specs on your car to see what's the lowest acceptable grade.