Kirk Avery

I have lived in Austin since 2002, but have been a native Texan all my life. As an adult, I have spent much time living overseas in various locations, but have always found myself back home in the Lone Star State. I was asked recently why I became involved in REI. In January 2011 my father passed away leaving my mother a modest estate. I began considering the state of her finances and how best to help her survive the next two decades as a retired widow. As I studied their assets I came upon a revelation, that though their estate was not sizeable, she would be just fine because of the real estate she owned. They owned their home outright, so she had no mortgage. They also owned a duplex and a piece of commercial real estate, both of which produced rental income. A few years prior my father had sold a plot of land that had been in our family to a developer, so she had finances in the bank. All the roads to my mother's financial security lead back to real estate. My attention was peaked, my adventure began.