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If you could afford to live anywhere, would you still be where you are?

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 20.0%
  • No

    Votes: 14 25.5%
  • Hell No!

    Votes: 30 54.5%

  • Total voters
    55
  • Poll closed .

JustAskBenWhy

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Why not? Moved from Ohio to Arizona about 11 months ago. Bought a house with a very interesting foot-print. Put the attached Casita on AirBnB and VRBO - this thing is paying for our stay big time!

Locational Freedom - an ability to say I'm done here, going to go there now - House Hacking pays for such freedom. I stumbled into it on accident, but having realized the power and how many people this could be helpful for - I Wrote a Book!

PNG_For Website.jpg
Here's an article I wrote a few days back;

And here's the Case-Study page on JustAskBenWhy;


I am living for 50% of what it cost to live in Ohio. Nuts...and cool as all get-up!

Check it out, guys. Perhaps some of you will find some value in this. Launching the funnels in a week or so. Publishing on Amazon within the month.

Ben
 
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JustAskBenWhy

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Why not? Moved from Ohio to Arizona about 11 months ago. Bought a house with a very interesting foot-print. Put the attached Casita on AirBnB and VRBO - this thing is paying for our stay big time!

Locational Freedom - an ability to say I'm done here, going to go there now - House Hacking pays for such freedom. I stumbled into it on accident, but having realized the power and how many people this could be helpful for - I Wrote a Book!

View attachment 15311
Here's an article I wrote a few days back;

And here's the Case-Study page on JustAskBenWhy;


I am living for 50% of what it cost to live in Ohio. Nuts...and cool as all get-up!

Check it out, guys. Perhaps some of you will find some value in this. Launching the funnels in a week or so. Publishing on Amazon within the month.

Ben
Here's a very interesting 60 minute discussion with Jake & Gino on the subject. Those of you who get your kicks from real estate will dig this:

House Hacking Podcast with Jake & Gino - Just Ask Ben Why
 

TheDillon__

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Interesting. Wouldn't mind checking it out. Are preorders available?
 

JustAskBenWhy

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mike24601

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Love this. You can eliminate expenses through soul sucking deprivation and miserly penny pinching, or you can set it up so that your house works for you. I'm looking to jump on a duplex soon, rent out the empty half and pay the mortgage in full every month. Without a mortgage or rent to pay, how much money could all of us put into our businesses instead? Looking forward to the book. Will there be an AmazonKindle version? That's how I read 99% of my books now.
 

biophase

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Nice work Ben! Downloaded the PDF, great read!

I've been tossing around the airbnb possibility also. Your casita rental has given me another avenue.
 
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amp0193

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Very good write up @JustAskBenWhy.

I've always been interested in house hacking, and I really like what you did with this one.

Looking forward to the book.
 

JustAskBenWhy

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Love this. You can eliminate expenses through soul sucking deprivation and miserly penny pinching, or you can set it up so that your house works for you. I'm looking to jump on a duplex soon, rent out the empty half and pay the mortgage in full every month. Without a mortgage or rent to pay, how much money could all of us put into our businesses instead? Looking forward to the book. Will there be an AmazonKindle version? That's how I read 99% of my books now.
That's exactly the point. Rich Dad says a house is a liability - he's right. Cardone says don't buy - rent, because you need locational freedom in this economy...he is also right.

The way I am doing it negates both arguments, and does so with flair while 10X-ing my quality of life. I think it's such a good opportunity in today's RE cycle. And, it's duplicatable, especially in high desirability markets. In fact, the sexier the market, the better my model works. Thus, instead of doing House hack because you have no money to live in a house otherwise, you are doing a House Hack to literally buy more locational freedom and 10X experience of life.

It will be available on Kindle, Paper, and Audible (recording audible files now as we speak).
 

MJ DeMarco

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@JustAskBenWhy -- had no idea you lived in Chandler.

Question...

Do you have a pool? And if so, do you allow your guests to use it? And if so, what are the liability risks involved?
 
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JustAskBenWhy

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Nice work Ben! Downloaded the PDF, great read!

I've been tossing around the airbnb possibility also. Your casita rental has given me another avenue.
I backed into it. Have been a landlord for over a decade. Came looking for something else and totally just fell into a formula that's stellar, in my opinion.
 

JustAskBenWhy

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Very good write up @JustAskBenWhy.

I've always been interested in house hacking, and I really like what you did with this one.

Looking forward to the book.
It's hard enough looking for a primary. And it's hard enough to find a good investment. But, trying to combine both is indeed tricky. I studied this particular sub-market for 6 months. Looked at hundreds of houses. But, I think I figured out a synthesis that really works on both ends of the spectrum...
 

JustAskBenWhy

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@JustAskBenWhy -- had no idea you lived in Chandler.

Question...

Do you have a pool? And if so, do you allow your guests to use it? And if so, what are the liability risks involved?
Yep - I remember crossing the street from a coffee shop on the way to pick up the kids from school when my wife turned to me and said - we're moving; figure it out. hahah And that was that. We traveled for about 9 months to different places, @MJ DeMarco, trying to figure out where. But, for a number of reasons settled on AZ.

Yes, we do have a pool in the house. Yes, there are disclosures and disclaimer of limit of liability within the service agreement. Although, not a single person has ever used the pool yet, which I think is a function of whom we attract (which is by design :) and that's in part what the book is about.

Real estate, as you know, is all about the story which distills into numbers. This is no different :)
 
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Justin Gesso

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My answer to your survey...Hell No!

This is such a great concept and probably one of the most interesting concepts for this RE cycle. Finding a way to live in a great house in a vacation destination (without sacrificing the lifestyle I've built) is a goal of mine. This certainly seems to be the solution.

As a brief disclaimer...@JustAskBenWhy and I have collaborated on various things over the last few years. We're both in real estate and generating money on our own in creative ways.

Thanks for giving me a pre-read of the book and allowing me to do an editorial review. You have my thumbs up so much that I decided to fly out to your place and check out your operations first hand. Will be good to finally meet you in person. :)
 

JustAskBenWhy

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My answer to your survey...Hell No!

This is such a great concept and probably one of the most interesting concepts for this RE cycle. Finding a way to live in a great house in a vacation destination (without sacrificing the lifestyle I've built) is a goal of mine. This certainly seems to be the solution.

As a brief disclaimer...@JustAskBenWhy and I have collaborated on various things over the last few years. We're both in real estate and generating money on our own in creative ways.

Thanks for giving me a pre-read of the book and allowing me to do an editorial review. You have my thumbs up so much that I decided to fly out to your place and check out your operations first hand. Will be good to finally meet you in person. :)
Hah - yeah, it's looking like we're going to have a bit of a fun time, Justin :)
And I know - years of working on stuff together and this will be the first time we meet in person. Kinda strange, if you think about it...Alas
 
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JustAskBenWhy

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Hah - yeah, it's looking like we're going to have a bit of a fun time, Justin :)
And I know - years of working on stuff together and this will be the first time we meet in person. Kinda strange, if you think about it...Alas
Well - finished recording the voice files for Audible. The book is about 45,000 words with about 3,000 more in additional sections. It really helped that I'd used audacity previously to record the voice files for CFFU. Knocked this book out in about a week!

I think it came out well - people will enjoy the audible as much, if not more, than the book. It was, however, tricky to get through some of the numbers...
 

JustAskBenWhy

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Well - finished recording the voice files for Audible. The book is about 45,000 words with about 3,000 more in additional sections. It really helped that I'd used audacity previously to record the voice files for CFFU. Knocked this book out in about a week!

I think it came out well - people will enjoy the audible as much, if not more, than the book. It was, however, tricky to get through some of the numbers...
OK - I think I am all done with the content and marketing materials. In case it helps someone here...

1. I've had much better experience with UpWork than Fiverr - period!
2. Editing by a pro runs about $0.02 per word. I spent a bit over $1,200 to edit all of the text.
3. Conversion to Create Space cost me $250 on UpWork.
4. Kindle conversion $25
5. Video editing (iPhone videos) $50
6. Book covers for Kindle and Create Space $100
7. Cover for Audible $25
8. Created the book in google.drive and shared that with everyone who needed it to complete the job.
9. Created audible files in Audacity (google free download) with a Yeti mic. Quality is quite good enough!
10. I can't help myself -- when someone does what they are supposed to I pay a little more that agreed upon...

Thus far, I am into this project about $1,800. I can see a marketing budget of about $600 - $1,000 for FB and other.

We shall see what transpires...hope this helps someone

If anyone has needs, I'd be happy to refer my contractors on UpWork. Text conversion, video, and cover design.
 

MitchM

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Why not? Moved from Ohio to Arizona about 11 months ago. Bought a house with a very interesting foot-print. Put the attached Casita on AirBnB and VRBO - this thing is paying for our stay big time!

Locational Freedom - an ability to say I'm done here, going to go there now - House Hacking pays for such freedom. I stumbled into it on accident, but having realized the power and how many people this could be helpful for - I Wrote a Book!

View attachment 15311
Here's an article I wrote a few days back;

And here's the Case-Study page on JustAskBenWhy;


I am living for 50% of what it cost to live in Ohio. Nuts...and cool as all get-up!

Check it out, guys. Perhaps some of you will find some value in this. Launching the funnels in a week or so. Publishing on Amazon within the month.

Ben
I'm moving soon. Very interested.
 
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G-Man

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Releasing in just a few days!

Will def buy. Loved the free download.

The only challenge I see in my situation is that DFW is not a tourist/vacation area.
 

Justin Gesso

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So I just got back from staying a few days in @JustAskBenWhy's househack casita. Outstanding. This is such a win for business people like us and for consumers. The casita was way nicer than a hotel and it was less expensive. It was an eye-opening opportunity and my next house will be a hack like this. No question.

Unrelated, but if you stay at this one to check it out, be careful...Ben can sell you on a Tesla like nobody. If you don't want to buy, avoid eye contact. I ended up ordering my own Model S before I left. So maybe this wasn't such a cheap stay after all. ;-)
 
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JustAskBenWhy

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Will def buy. Loved the free download.

The only challenge I see in my situation is that DFW is not a tourist/vacation area.
True - there is not as much vacation activity in DFW. But, there are a lot of sport and arts. Not to mention growing population and employment activity. If you buy the right asset in the right location this will work well!
 

JustAskBenWhy

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So I just got back from staying a few days in @JustAskBenWhy's househack casita. Outstanding. This is such a win for business people like us and for consumers. The casita was way nicer than a hotel and it was less expensive. It was an eye-opening opportunity and my next house will be a hack like this. No question.

Unrelated, but if you stay at this one to check it out, be careful...Ben can sell you on a Tesla like nobody. If you don't want to buy, avoid eye contact. I ended up ordering my own Model S before I left. So maybe this wasn't such a cheap stay after all. ;-)
HAHA! We had a great time, didn't we!

Yes - so on one side people have a choice of staying at a hotel. On the other hand people have a choice of AirBnB dedicated rentals. Mine is neither here nor there, but has to compete favorably with both - and it does. But, this requires buying just the right kind of thing, and that formula is just what the book is about!

As to Tesla, congratulations @Justin Gesso - you will love it. My family and I just came back from a 1,400 mile trip...again! 45,000 miles in under 2 years - we love our Tesla, and I am very seriously considering another.

Now, for those of you who think you might be interested in a Tesla I am here to answer questions. Also, understand - the most attractive feature of these cars is free travel. Tesla has Superscharger stations across the US which makes it practical to travel using someone else's energy. But - while I am grandfathered into free charging for life, this is going to change for cars purchased past 2017.

There is a way to get it done, though. If you are referred by an existing owner, not only do you get $1,000 off the price, but you get free supercharging for life. I can refer you.

Use my code: My Tesla Referral Code
 

JustAskBenWhy

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OK. Getting closer to publishing. Got a few really awesome editorial reviews - Chick them out

Getting close to launching the funnels. Thinking about doing audible in a second wave; that seems to make sense. Anyone has experience with this please jump in.

Funny thing - I haven't even launched the book yet and it's already delivered $1,000 into my account with about $5,000 more confirmed and as much in the works. This money is not direct book sales yet, but the flood-gates of possibility are starting to crack...
 
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jlwilliams

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Exciting stuff. Interested in the subject matter and liking the bonus of reading about the process behind the book itself.
 

JustAskBenWhy

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JustAskBenWhy

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Getting closer. The initial response to some of my pre-launch funnels has been strong. People are definitely engaged with my vision of House Hacking.

In the meantime I decided to upgrade the cover. I think it's good now - the right flavor of "it's not a hotel or apartment" kind of thing...

House Hacking_3D-No Badge.jpg
 

mike24601

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Now that I'm done with Unscripted, I am eagerly awaiting launch so I can dig into your book.
 

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