Thread: SUCCESS STORY: Nomadjanet

Ok so being a slightly paranoid person I have hesitated to post my story but here goes.
I was raised in a low economic household with lots of kids. I skipped two years of school and graduated at 15. I was not encouraged to go to college. I got married right after high school. My husband was 19 and I was 15 we had nothing. We purchased a used mobile home and lived in that for 3 years. We sold it and purchased a small home and lived in it for 2 years. During this time we partnered up with an older family member and purchased a 15-acre piece of real estate on the edge of town. We platted it and subdivided it including installing a street and water main. We lost 2 acres to road; we sold 10 lots, saving one for a house for us and the two front lots facing the main road for possible future commercial. The overall rate of return on this first project was about 30% after expenses and we got our house lot free. Not exactly fastlane but a taste of something other than employee income, I was 21 by this time. I had tried to go to college but never found my niche. I had my real estate license and my husband was a master plumber. We built our dream house on our street on the edge of town. I opened a day care center brining in S money in our area and operated this for 4 years while my husband worked for a union shop bringing home the E money & keeping us insured. During this time my husband joined the local water board and started finding out about different development opportunities in the area. We found out about a small highway near our home that was about to be developed into a large divided highway, including extension of utilities etc. We made a deal on 5.5 acres on the highway, within 6 months the new development started our 30k investment was worth 150k within 6 months. During the 4th year of my daycare business my husband wanted to open his own shop, he started with me answering phones while I ran after kids. Within a year we had outgrown this situation and something had to give the potential for income in his business was much higher in comparison to mine due to facility investment. I sold the daycare business to my assistant for little more than a song & a promise. But it was a good decision she paid me a monthly payment and I could devote my time to the plumbing business. We continued to work the plumbing business, hiring employees and expanding our sales every year. The plumbing business has been good to us; we have learned through the years to develop it into a B business instead of an S business as we started out. We have office staff and technical staff and our role now is to lead and control and does not require constant work to acquire constant income.
During the time we were building the plumbing business we also worked more in real estate: We built a 5 unit commercial complex on our newly valuable highway land and moved the plumbing company into one slot after the plumbing company was in business only 1 year. We rented out the rest for twice the mortgage. Around this time there were many foreclosures going on in our area and I was scanning the foreclosures and pumping my real estate friends for leads. We purchased a small house on a triple lot and began remodel that house. We then built two more homes on the other lots as rent houses. We repeated this model twice buying homes with multiple lots and expanding on our rental holdings. Always keeping my eye out for more real estate that can turn a profit we have also purchased and developed raw land four times. The raw land is always sold as soon as possible and we begin to go onto the next piece. There are times when we don’t have a project going because we just haven’t found the right deal but we are constantly looking.
Last year my husband decided he wasn’t busy enough since the plumbing business does not need him so much. We built a new house at the ranch and moved from our neighborhood on the edge of town. We started another little business buying & selling classic cars. We have since been traveling to view and perhaps purchase or sell classic autos.
We aren't living the Bill Gates life but we are living free and it is a great life.

Thanks for sharing your story J...

sounds like constant persistance and growth has brought you where you are today.

Thanks for posting Janet. Your story helps motivate the rest of us.

Greg

Thanks for sharing. I agree with Russ. It's good to see how you were able to gradually (not quite slowlane though ) build up your assets to where you have now.

Thanks for a truly inspiring life story. Obviously, you and your husband are "doers." Congratulations! It sounds as if you are enjoying the fruit of your labor and good business sense.

Thanks guys, I left out lots of little deals along the way but you get the drift of trying to form multiple income streams. I guess I am intimidated by the guys on here who are talking buying Lambo's & 3 millon dollar deals. I am used to making it a few hundred thousand at a time.

You have many good points and I am always impressed with your go to it attitude and thoughtful plan.
I'm not saying we don't have a few million, we just did it in small bites. Right now we have real estate over 2 mil clear with no debt. We have a business that does over mil a year without hard labor on our part and with debt only on hard assets. We are liquid out about 10 years. We are holding paper for another mil but all the deals were a few hundred thousand at a time. All of the above is in addition to the Ranch and two personal homes with no debt. It's just a comfort zone we are in I guess. Another thing is we are not in CA, we can buy allot with 500k. This board is opening my eyes to some informational & managment options that I haven't looked at before and we may be changing our comfort zone soon. Today I had a meeting with our broker that will simplify & change our lives. I am reading the 4 hour work week and setting up some things on autopilot that I have a tendency to procrastinate on. I found a property manager for one of our houses at the coast that I have been hesitant to lease out because we live 150 miles away these are all things that will enable me to think of doing bigger better deals. So like I say all of you, I am learning everyday.

Great Story;Thank you for sharing!!

Thanks for the inspirational story Janet !

Thanks for sharing your story.

Thanks Janet, nice write up! PM me for icon status if so desired.

Thanks for the inspiration.

I love "underdog" stories. You came from humble beginnings, but kept moving ahead. Love it! Keep up the good work!

find cool when that happens, people with few resources, work and reach high places on the ladder economically. Some people have too much money and puts everything to lose not taking life seriously. Reminds me of a parable of the seed that fell among the rocks and still germinated, grew and bore fruit.
My congratulations, beautiful story.

Great Story! Gotta move on in life I guess!

Thanks for posting your story Janet. I'm working on "living free" and these are the kind of stories that motivate me to stay focused.