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SUCCESS STORY: Biophase (eCommerce, Real estate)

ZeroTo100

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Sorry I can't say, I've always had capital to work with.

You need to ask yourself why you don't have capital. Then you will realize it is because you don't have skills that people pay for yet. It sounds harsh, but think about it for a second. If you could hit a ball or catch a pass, do you need capital? No, your skills will get you that capital.

If you can build websites, code, find cheap properties, design graphics, etc... that made people money, they would keep hiring you and you will eventually have that capital. It all starts with you.

I agree and not just because it's from @biophase. You have to be able to MASTER A SKILL SET so that you can INCREASE YOUR VALUE TO OTHERS. You can do that in more forms than one. You can provide the labor for your clients or you can package that skillset up and sell it some how.

People don't realize this, they're always looking for an idea. It's not about ideas...It's about mastering a skillset before anything. Think about it...That skillset can be mastering SEO, WRITING COPY, RUNNING PAID TRAFFIC, LEAD GEN, DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING, IMPORTING, ETC. Pick a skillset that aligns with your personality type; one that you have a general interest in and go and master it. Mark my words - It will be that very same skillset that you utilize within an industry that will make you very wealthy!

I am currently sitting on around $300k cash. I'm not going out and spending that money. You know what I did (I actually did this today) and I will attach a screen shot of my order...I BOUGHT BOOKS! I STAY LEARNING! If you want to make some money here is what you should do. GO OUT AND FIND YOURSELF A PROBLEM!. Stay curious about everything that goes on in your daily life. If you have a painpoint in your life - you can utilize your skills to build a business around that pain point in your life. Everyone has a pain point in something. I have my mother-in-law and I'm sure 1000s of men do too. Maybe I can write a book on how to deal with that mother-in-law and use my "paid ad" skills to sell it...just an example but you feel my drift? If there is something in your life that you're not satisfied with - that's your business...Use the skills that you mastered to attack that business.
 
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ZeroTo100

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BTW - Congrats again to @biophase...Truly an inspiration and a success! I've read through your story like 15 times already.

PS apologies if my post above this was or is considered a hijack. Was not intentional, just realized it lol. Sorry dude
 
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ygtrhos

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I am currently hooked on you @biophase, what a story!

Dude, if someone shot your life as a series, I would watch it like I watched Lost in 2008. :D
 

Geekour

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Pick a skillset that aligns with your personality type; one that you have a general interest in and go and master it. Mark my words - It will be that very same skillset that you utilize within an industry that will make you very wealthy!

This is such a gem and highlights what biophase and many are doing on this forum. I learn something new everyday. There is no one answer or blueprint but this is killer advice. Much love.
 
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21elnegocio

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My story is not as intricate or exciting as the other ones on here and I'm nowhere near the $1M range yet. But, after reading the other ones I felt compelled to write mine. It's actually pretty boring and normal and it's not the fastlane or slowlane. I'd call it driving in regular traffic and luckily catching all the green lights. :)

I had a normal education at the University of Illinois which ultimately ended with a Master's in Engineering. I knew that I was in college to get the degree only because it meant getting a higher paying job. I got my first job out of college with a hefty $35k salary. After two years of measly raises, I jumped jobs and got paid about $42k. I was in the wireless industry building cell sites. I was there for one year when they were bought out by Alltel. The company was shutting down the Chicago office and moving everyone to Little Rock, AR.

This was my first realization that you can't control your destiny in the corporate world. Luckily I got 6 months severance and landed a job the next day. I took my 6 months severance money and bought my first home in 1999. I started remodelling my home from day 1 and found out that I was really good at it. I knew nothing about real estate investing at this time.

During this dot com era, I changed jobs every year. Every company I went to went under, usually due to crazy overspending on lavish things, but I wasn't going to complain about free health club memberships that cost $100/mo. Although I was changing jobs constantly and I knew that they were through no fault of mine I was having fun living the crazy dot com life, parties, cruises, beer trolleys...

I finally landed a job that felt like a lifer. It's one of those jobs where you retire. I worked with a lady who had been there 35 years!

In 2001, my friends and I took a mountain biking trip to Crested Butte, CO. We camped for one week at Lake Irwin. No electric, cell phones, running water, etc... The town had a speed limit of 15mph. I remember cruising into town and slamming the brakes like WTF? However, at the end of 7 days, 15mph actually felt fast in town.

There was a point during the trip that I looked at my watch and calculated that it was 5:30pm in Chicago. At the time I was sitting on a rock on top of mountain at about 11,000ft having a PBJ sandwich with my buddies just chilling and looking at the clouds. If I were at work this week, I would be running down the street trying to catch my train at this time. What a contrast in speeds. It was at this moment that I knew something was wrong with my direction.

Coming back to work the next week I had lost all motivation. I had a great week in Crested Butte and we were all talking about going back the next year. I remember thinking, just another 51 weeks? I work 50 weeks a year to enjoy 2 weeks. Thinking deeper I also realized that I only enjoy Friday and Saturday out of the 7 days of the week. Doing the math, something wasn't right. Why do we enjoy only 2/7 of our lives?

With this realization, my next thought was how do I enjoy life more. First answer, move to Crested Butte, CO. But homes there cost twice what mine does and salaries are 1/3.

I did a quick calculation on my finances at the time. Jeez, I had a huge house, 2 cars and all the materialistic things I could have ever wanted. I remember seeing on Oprah that families survive on $50k a year. Here I was single, making almost twice as much as that and I couldn't save a penny. Somehow, one day I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad. Reading that changed my life. I realized that I was tied to my job. I also realized that it was completely my fault.

I started looking into shifting my income from active to passive. This meant real estate, CDs, money market accounts and high dividend stocks. Anything that put $1 into my account at the end of the month without me doing anything, I was reading about.

I had goals in 2002 to lower my expenses and to buy a rental property. I was following the Rich Dad passive income = expenses means you are out of the rat race. Living in Chicago, I quickly realized that there weren't that many positive cashflow properties out there. In addition, my mortgage on my huge house hindered my capabilities to get a loan on a rental property. I could not qualify for a investment loan so I failed my goals in 2002.

I knew I had to sell my primary residence to free up my cash. I completely remodeled the house in the fall of 2002. I also had to sell my Acura NSX. I loved this car so much, but I knew that selling was for a better future. I bought a pre-construction condo in Chicago that I calculated to have positive cashflow. It wouldn't be completed for 2 years. I sold my NSX and put the money down on that condo.

I sold my car and home and all my furniture in 2003 and moved back in with my parents. I came home with a hefty check for over $100,000. Added my to savings, I had a significant wad of money.

I had read almost every single Kiyosaki book and every real estate rental book out there the past two years. It was 2004 and now that my expenses were nil, I was really getting sick of my job. I obviously didn't want to stay at my parents house forever so I looked for a change.

I remember seeing on Loopnet that there were 4-plexes in Phoenix asking $150,000! I didn't know anything about Phoenix. I thought it was all brown and desert. I had a friend living in LA. He said that I could live with him. So I quit my job and moved to LA. On the way to LA, I stopped by Phoenix and bought 2 condos in Scottsdale and a preconstruction house. Talk about impulse shopping! I had 4 properties and no job!

These buys were all based on cashflow. I was a cashflow guy. If COCR was above 10%, I was buying. The condos had Section 8 tenants and would cashflow $183/mo at the price I paid with 20% down. One day from moving out of Chicago and I was cashflowing $366/mo! This was easy. LOL

I didn't really like living in LA. I was 30 minutes from the beach and real estate was crazy expensive. 4-flats were $1,000,000 and massively negative cashflow. I couldn't stay with my friend forever and the LA RE market was booming. Then one of my Section 8 tenants got kicked off of Section 8. It was reported that she was a prostitute and on drugs. I got her evicted and went to view the condo, which was of course, trashed. I had to fix it back up to get it re-rented. In the process, it occurred to me that I should just move into it. That's how I ended up in Phoenix.

The market in Phoenix went crazy during 2005. I literally hit the lottery. Homes were appreciating $10k per month. I made another preconstruction purchase based on the comps I felt I had $100k in equity at the purchase. My Chicago condo also closed with about $60k in equity.

In 2005 I had literally turned my networth into around $600k. However, I totally understood that this was pretaxed, pre-realtor commissioned money. Getting $600k cash in the bank was another story.

One day I was surfing craigslist when I came across an ad about preconstruction, cashflowing, mountain view townhomes in Salt Lake City. I made a call to the realtor, did some research online and decided that he wasn't bullshiting. I booked a flight the new morning to SLC, rented a car and met the realtor. I drove the areas, looked at the rents and bought 2 townhomes at $140k. I found a property manager and hired them and my first PM'd rental was born. My calculations didn't quite work out. My proforma rents were too high and I had accept lower rent. Turned out that both townhomes had break even cashflow. Well, one was -$7/mo. These townhomes have appreciated to $195k each, adding another $100k to my networth.

I also picked up a couple 1 acre lots in St. George, Utah. This was my first foray into land. In hindsight, I broke my cardinal positive cashflow rule. Buying land you are 99% assured negative cashflow.

2006 saw the downturn of the real estate market. This is where having positive cashflow or at least breakeven cashflow helps alot. I sold my lots in St. George at a loss of around $35k. I sold my condos in Scottsdale at the peak of the market. I sold one preconstruction house at about $65k below peak prices. My SLC and Chicago properties have held in value. My Phoenix properties have dropped huge. I've learned alot about value of geographic diversification.

My story doesn't have and ups and downs like the other ones. However, some months are bad and some are very good. During the bad months you wonder if you should have stayed in the comfortable cubicle and lived the easy predefined life. The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

I do sometimes wonder what my life and networth would be if I stayed at my job in 2004. I think about what I've experienced in the past 3 years since quitting. I'm not talking about the money. I'm talking about living in LA, PHX, traveling to SLC, St. George and dozens of other cities that I ended up not buying anything in. My ex-co-workers used to call me and the first thing they said was, "Hey, what city are you in today?" Before that I had spent 33 years in Chicago.

When I moved into my condo in Scottsdale, I experienced something for the first time in my life. I had lost the ambition for money. What I mean is the pursuit of making lots of money just to make money. I had a monthly payment of $600/mo which included all utilities. For all intensive purposes, I did not have to work for 10 years at my current burn rate. The need for money to pay bills was gone.

So now you wake up and what do you do? The answer is... anything you want! This is what many retirees face after 55 years. I faced it at 33. I had a new outlook on life. My main priority now was living life, I figure I have at least 50 years. Where does all the time go? LOL Money is important, but money is a means to live life. You shouldn't live your life to get the money. If I want to travel the world, I find out what it costs and then go make that money. I look at money with a purpose. It's purpose isn't to sit in a bank. It's purpose is for you to spend it on things that you enjoy.

I might have to look into joining that Lambo crowd on here... you guys are making them very appealing to me!

I might be out of the look on what is @biophase might be doing now, but what are you up to now ?
Are you still in Phoenix ?
 

Dianne Cohen

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My story is not as intricate or exciting as the other ones on here and I'm nowhere near the $1M range yet. But, after reading the other ones I felt compelled to write mine. It's actually pretty boring and normal and it's not the fastlane or slowlane. I'd call it driving in regular traffic and luckily catching all the green lights. :)

I had a normal education at the University of Illinois which ultimately ended with a Master's in Engineering. I knew that I was in college to get the degree only because it meant getting a higher paying job. I got my first job out of college with a hefty $35k salary. After two years of measly raises, I jumped jobs and got paid about $42k. I was in the wireless industry building cell sites. I was there for one year when they were bought out by Alltel. The company was shutting down the Chicago office and moving everyone to Little Rock, AR.

This was my first realization that you can't control your destiny in the corporate world. Luckily I got 6 months severance and landed a job the next day. I took my 6 months severance money and bought my first home in 1999. I started remodelling my home from day 1 and found out that I was really good at it. I knew nothing about real estate investing at this time.

During this dot com era, I changed jobs every year. Every company I went to went under, usually due to crazy overspending on lavish things, but I wasn't going to complain about free health club memberships that cost $100/mo. Although I was changing jobs constantly and I knew that they were through no fault of mine I was having fun living the crazy dot com life, parties, cruises, beer trolleys...

I finally landed a job that felt like a lifer. It's one of those jobs where you retire. I worked with a lady who had been there 35 years!

In 2001, my friends and I took a mountain biking trip to Crested Butte, CO. We camped for one week at Lake Irwin. No electric, cell phones, running water, etc... The town had a speed limit of 15mph. I remember cruising into town and slamming the brakes like WTF? However, at the end of 7 days, 15mph actually felt fast in town.

There was a point during the trip that I looked at my watch and calculated that it was 5:30pm in Chicago. At the time I was sitting on a rock on top of mountain at about 11,000ft having a PBJ sandwich with my buddies just chilling and looking at the clouds. If I were at work this week, I would be running down the street trying to catch my train at this time. What a contrast in speeds. It was at this moment that I knew something was wrong with my direction.

Coming back to work the next week I had lost all motivation. I had a great week in Crested Butte and we were all talking about going back the next year. I remember thinking, just another 51 weeks? I work 50 weeks a year to enjoy 2 weeks. Thinking deeper I also realized that I only enjoy Friday and Saturday out of the 7 days of the week. Doing the math, something wasn't right. Why do we enjoy only 2/7 of our lives?

With this realization, my next thought was how do I enjoy life more. First answer, move to Crested Butte, CO. But homes there cost twice what mine does and salaries are 1/3.

I did a quick calculation on my finances at the time. Jeez, I had a huge house, 2 cars and all the materialistic things I could have ever wanted. I remember seeing on Oprah that families survive on $50k a year. Here I was single, making almost twice as much as that and I couldn't save a penny. Somehow, one day I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad. Reading that changed my life. I realized that I was tied to my job. I also realized that it was completely my fault.

I started looking into shifting my income from active to passive. This meant real estate, CDs, money market accounts and high dividend stocks. Anything that put $1 into my account at the end of the month without me doing anything, I was reading about.

I had goals in 2002 to lower my expenses and to buy a rental property. I was following the Rich Dad passive income = expenses means you are out of the rat race. Living in Chicago, I quickly realized that there weren't that many positive cashflow properties out there. In addition, my mortgage on my huge house hindered my capabilities to get a loan on a rental property. I could not qualify for a investment loan so I failed my goals in 2002.

I knew I had to sell my primary residence to free up my cash. I completely remodeled the house in the fall of 2002. I also had to sell my Acura NSX. I loved this car so much, but I knew that selling was for a better future. I bought a pre-construction condo in Chicago that I calculated to have positive cashflow. It wouldn't be completed for 2 years. I sold my NSX and put the money down on that condo.

I sold my car and home and all my furniture in 2003 and moved back in with my parents. I came home with a hefty check for over $100,000. Added my to savings, I had a significant wad of money.

I had read almost every single Kiyosaki book and every real estate rental book out there the past two years. It was 2004 and now that my expenses were nil, I was really getting sick of my job. I obviously didn't want to stay at my parents house forever so I looked for a change.

I remember seeing on Loopnet that there were 4-plexes in Phoenix asking $150,000! I didn't know anything about Phoenix. I thought it was all brown and desert. I had a friend living in LA. He said that I could live with him. So I quit my job and moved to LA. On the way to LA, I stopped by Phoenix and bought 2 condos in Scottsdale and a preconstruction house. Talk about impulse shopping! I had 4 properties and no job!

These buys were all based on cashflow. I was a cashflow guy. If COCR was above 10%, I was buying. The condos had Section 8 tenants and would cashflow $183/mo at the price I paid with 20% down. One day from moving out of Chicago and I was cashflowing $366/mo! This was easy. LOL

I didn't really like living in LA. I was 30 minutes from the beach and real estate was crazy expensive. 4-flats were $1,000,000 and massively negative cashflow. I couldn't stay with my friend forever and the LA RE market was booming. Then one of my Section 8 tenants got kicked off of Section 8. It was reported that she was a prostitute and on drugs. I got her evicted and went to view the condo, which was of course, trashed. I had to fix it back up to get it re-rented. In the process, it occurred to me that I should just move into it. That's how I ended up in Phoenix.

The market in Phoenix went crazy during 2005. I literally hit the lottery. Homes were appreciating $10k per month. I made another preconstruction purchase based on the comps I felt I had $100k in equity at the purchase. My Chicago condo also closed with about $60k in equity.

In 2005 I had literally turned my networth into around $600k. However, I totally understood that this was pretaxed, pre-realtor commissioned money. Getting $600k cash in the bank was another story.

One day I was surfing craigslist when I came across an ad about preconstruction, cashflowing, mountain view townhomes in Salt Lake City. I made a call to the realtor, did some research online and decided that he wasn't bullshiting. I booked a flight the new morning to SLC, rented a car and met the realtor. I drove the areas, looked at the rents and bought 2 townhomes at $140k. I found a property manager and hired them and my first PM'd rental was born. My calculations didn't quite work out. My proforma rents were too high and I had accept lower rent. Turned out that both townhomes had break even cashflow. Well, one was -$7/mo. These townhomes have appreciated to $195k each, adding another $100k to my networth.

I also picked up a couple 1 acre lots in St. George, Utah. This was my first foray into land. In hindsight, I broke my cardinal positive cashflow rule. Buying land you are 99% assured negative cashflow.

2006 saw the downturn of the real estate market. This is where having positive cashflow or at least breakeven cashflow helps alot. I sold my lots in St. George at a loss of around $35k. I sold my condos in Scottsdale at the peak of the market. I sold one preconstruction house at about $65k below peak prices. My SLC and Chicago properties have held in value. My Phoenix properties have dropped huge. I've learned alot about value of geographic diversification.

My story doesn't have and ups and downs like the other ones. However, some months are bad and some are very good. During the bad months you wonder if you should have stayed in the comfortable cubicle and lived the easy predefined life. The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

I do sometimes wonder what my life and networth would be if I stayed at my job in 2004. I think about what I've experienced in the past 3 years since quitting. I'm not talking about the money. I'm talking about living in LA, PHX, traveling to SLC, St. George and dozens of other cities that I ended up not buying anything in. My ex-co-workers used to call me and the first thing they said was, "Hey, what city are you in today?" Before that I had spent 33 years in Chicago.

When I moved into my condo in Scottsdale, I experienced something for the first time in my life. I had lost the ambition for money. What I mean is the pursuit of making lots of money just to make money. I had a monthly payment of $600/mo which included all utilities. For all intensive purposes, I did not have to work for 10 years at my current burn rate. The need for money to pay bills was gone.

So now you wake up and what do you do? The answer is... anything you want! This is what many retirees face after 55 years. I faced it at 33. I had a new outlook on life. My main priority now was living life, I figure I have at least 50 years. Where does all the time go? LOL Money is important, but money is a means to live life. You shouldn't live your life to get the money. If I want to travel the world, I find out what it costs and then go make that money. I look at money with a purpose. It's purpose isn't to sit in a bank. It's purpose is for you to spend it on things that you enjoy.

I might have to look into joining that Lambo crowd on here... you guys are making them very appealing to me!
 

SIDI

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As has been said many times before, this is an epic thread.
The wisdom oozes from each and every one of your posts.
Wisdom which clearly not only stands the test of time, but seems to become even more appropriate as we move forward.

Thank you sir!
 

rynor

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My story doesn't have and ups and downs like the other ones. However, some months are bad and some are very good. During the bad months you wonder if you should have stayed in the comfortable cubicle and lived the easy predefined life. The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

Reading this 12 years later, in 2019! Still an awesome thread. I'm currently in this same position of living through the bad months in the pursuit of the good ones. Often times, I've found myself looking at my situation and wondering if I should just go back to the cubicle life.
Not now, not ever! Thank you for the inspiration and another great read. :thumbsup:
 

DaDream

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My story is not as intricate or exciting as the other ones on here and I'm nowhere near the $1M range yet. But, after reading the other ones I felt compelled to write mine. It's actually pretty boring and normal and it's not the fastlane or slowlane. I'd call it driving in regular traffic and luckily catching all the green lights. :)

I had a normal education at the University of Illinois which ultimately ended with a Master's in Engineering. I knew that I was in college to get the degree only because it meant getting a higher paying job. I got my first job out of college with a hefty $35k salary. After two years of measly raises, I jumped jobs and got paid about $42k. I was in the wireless industry building cell sites. I was there for one year when they were bought out by Alltel. The company was shutting down the Chicago office and moving everyone to Little Rock, AR.

This was my first realization that you can't control your destiny in the corporate world. Luckily I got 6 months severance and landed a job the next day. I took my 6 months severance money and bought my first home in 1999. I started remodelling my home from day 1 and found out that I was really good at it. I knew nothing about real estate investing at this time.

During this dot com era, I changed jobs every year. Every company I went to went under, usually due to crazy overspending on lavish things, but I wasn't going to complain about free health club memberships that cost $100/mo. Although I was changing jobs constantly and I knew that they were through no fault of mine I was having fun living the crazy dot com life, parties, cruises, beer trolleys...

I finally landed a job that felt like a lifer. It's one of those jobs where you retire. I worked with a lady who had been there 35 years!

In 2001, my friends and I took a mountain biking trip to Crested Butte, CO. We camped for one week at Lake Irwin. No electric, cell phones, running water, etc... The town had a speed limit of 15mph. I remember cruising into town and slamming the brakes like WTF? However, at the end of 7 days, 15mph actually felt fast in town.

There was a point during the trip that I looked at my watch and calculated that it was 5:30pm in Chicago. At the time I was sitting on a rock on top of mountain at about 11,000ft having a PBJ sandwich with my buddies just chilling and looking at the clouds. If I were at work this week, I would be running down the street trying to catch my train at this time. What a contrast in speeds. It was at this moment that I knew something was wrong with my direction.

Coming back to work the next week I had lost all motivation. I had a great week in Crested Butte and we were all talking about going back the next year. I remember thinking, just another 51 weeks? I work 50 weeks a year to enjoy 2 weeks. Thinking deeper I also realized that I only enjoy Friday and Saturday out of the 7 days of the week. Doing the math, something wasn't right. Why do we enjoy only 2/7 of our lives?

With this realization, my next thought was how do I enjoy life more. First answer, move to Crested Butte, CO. But homes there cost twice what mine does and salaries are 1/3.

I did a quick calculation on my finances at the time. Jeez, I had a huge house, 2 cars and all the materialistic things I could have ever wanted. I remember seeing on Oprah that families survive on $50k a year. Here I was single, making almost twice as much as that and I couldn't save a penny. Somehow, one day I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad. Reading that changed my life. I realized that I was tied to my job. I also realized that it was completely my fault.

I started looking into shifting my income from active to passive. This meant real estate, CDs, money market accounts and high dividend stocks. Anything that put $1 into my account at the end of the month without me doing anything, I was reading about.

I had goals in 2002 to lower my expenses and to buy a rental property. I was following the Rich Dad passive income = expenses means you are out of the rat race. Living in Chicago, I quickly realized that there weren't that many positive cashflow properties out there. In addition, my mortgage on my huge house hindered my capabilities to get a loan on a rental property. I could not qualify for a investment loan so I failed my goals in 2002.

I knew I had to sell my primary residence to free up my cash. I completely remodeled the house in the fall of 2002. I also had to sell my Acura NSX. I loved this car so much, but I knew that selling was for a better future. I bought a pre-construction condo in Chicago that I calculated to have positive cashflow. It wouldn't be completed for 2 years. I sold my NSX and put the money down on that condo.

I sold my car and home and all my furniture in 2003 and moved back in with my parents. I came home with a hefty check for over $100,000. Added my to savings, I had a significant wad of money.

I had read almost every single Kiyosaki book and every real estate rental book out there the past two years. It was 2004 and now that my expenses were nil, I was really getting sick of my job. I obviously didn't want to stay at my parents house forever so I looked for a change.

I remember seeing on Loopnet that there were 4-plexes in Phoenix asking $150,000! I didn't know anything about Phoenix. I thought it was all brown and desert. I had a friend living in LA. He said that I could live with him. So I quit my job and moved to LA. On the way to LA, I stopped by Phoenix and bought 2 condos in Scottsdale and a preconstruction house. Talk about impulse shopping! I had 4 properties and no job!

These buys were all based on cashflow. I was a cashflow guy. If COCR was above 10%, I was buying. The condos had Section 8 tenants and would cashflow $183/mo at the price I paid with 20% down. One day from moving out of Chicago and I was cashflowing $366/mo! This was easy. LOL

I didn't really like living in LA. I was 30 minutes from the beach and real estate was crazy expensive. 4-flats were $1,000,000 and massively negative cashflow. I couldn't stay with my friend forever and the LA RE market was booming. Then one of my Section 8 tenants got kicked off of Section 8. It was reported that she was a prostitute and on drugs. I got her evicted and went to view the condo, which was of course, trashed. I had to fix it back up to get it re-rented. In the process, it occurred to me that I should just move into it. That's how I ended up in Phoenix.

The market in Phoenix went crazy during 2005. I literally hit the lottery. Homes were appreciating $10k per month. I made another preconstruction purchase based on the comps I felt I had $100k in equity at the purchase. My Chicago condo also closed with about $60k in equity.

In 2005 I had literally turned my networth into around $600k. However, I totally understood that this was pretaxed, pre-realtor commissioned money. Getting $600k cash in the bank was another story.

One day I was surfing craigslist when I came across an ad about preconstruction, cashflowing, mountain view townhomes in Salt Lake City. I made a call to the realtor, did some research online and decided that he wasn't bullshiting. I booked a flight the new morning to SLC, rented a car and met the realtor. I drove the areas, looked at the rents and bought 2 townhomes at $140k. I found a property manager and hired them and my first PM'd rental was born. My calculations didn't quite work out. My proforma rents were too high and I had accept lower rent. Turned out that both townhomes had break even cashflow. Well, one was -$7/mo. These townhomes have appreciated to $195k each, adding another $100k to my networth.

I also picked up a couple 1 acre lots in St. George, Utah. This was my first foray into land. In hindsight, I broke my cardinal positive cashflow rule. Buying land you are 99% assured negative cashflow.

2006 saw the downturn of the real estate market. This is where having positive cashflow or at least breakeven cashflow helps alot. I sold my lots in St. George at a loss of around $35k. I sold my condos in Scottsdale at the peak of the market. I sold one preconstruction house at about $65k below peak prices. My SLC and Chicago properties have held in value. My Phoenix properties have dropped huge. I've learned alot about value of geographic diversification.

My story doesn't have and ups and downs like the other ones. However, some months are bad and some are very good. During the bad months you wonder if you should have stayed in the comfortable cubicle and lived the easy predefined life. The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

I do sometimes wonder what my life and networth would be if I stayed at my job in 2004. I think about what I've experienced in the past 3 years since quitting. I'm not talking about the money. I'm talking about living in LA, PHX, traveling to SLC, St. George and dozens of other cities that I ended up not buying anything in. My ex-co-workers used to call me and the first thing they said was, "Hey, what city are you in today?" Before that I had spent 33 years in Chicago.

When I moved into my condo in Scottsdale, I experienced something for the first time in my life. I had lost the ambition for money. What I mean is the pursuit of making lots of money just to make money. I had a monthly payment of $600/mo which included all utilities. For all intensive purposes, I did not have to work for 10 years at my current burn rate. The need for money to pay bills was gone.

So now you wake up and what do you do? The answer is... anything you want! This is what many retirees face after 55 years. I faced it at 33. I had a new outlook on life. My main priority now was living life, I figure I have at least 50 years. Where does all the time go? LOL Money is important, but money is a means to live life. You shouldn't live your life to get the money. If I want to travel the world, I find out what it costs and then go make that money. I look at money with a purpose. It's purpose isn't to sit in a bank. It's purpose is for you to spend it on things that you enjoy.

I might have to look into joining that Lambo crowd on here... you guys are making them very appealing to me!

I'm 27. I Have an enginering degree. Far from success yet but your story gives me an extra pack of motivation. Same with MJ fastlane which I'm reading. Sadly for me. I think of the housing market and real state as bondage to wage slavery. I hate carrying any form of debt and taking risk makes me very unconfortable. I paid my student loans within 9 months of landing my first job as software engineer in corporate America right out of graduation. I hated the job it was soul crushing. My only motivation was to become free from debt and find a different path.

I got to fix my mindset on that. So many people are successful flipping and renting homes and creating that positive cash flow you speak of. This forum is teaching me I need to fix some of my core beliefs if I trully want to enjoy the time freedom I seek. I hope to be able to write my story in a few years from now and reach that statement that I no longer have to trade my time for money. Placing big faith in the advice of this community to make it happen. The support here is astounding I think that's why so many of you actually get to achieve some level of success.
 
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DaDream

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My story is not as intricate or exciting as the other ones on here and I'm nowhere near the $1M range yet. But, after reading the other ones I felt compelled to write mine. It's actually pretty boring and normal and it's not the fastlane or slowlane. I'd call it driving in regular traffic and luckily catching all the green lights. :)

I had a normal education at the University of Illinois which ultimately ended with a Master's in Engineering. I knew that I was in college to get the degree only because it meant getting a higher paying job. I got my first job out of college with a hefty $35k salary. After two years of measly raises, I jumped jobs and got paid about $42k. I was in the wireless industry building cell sites. I was there for one year when they were bought out by Alltel. The company was shutting down the Chicago office and moving everyone to Little Rock, AR.

This was my first realization that you can't control your destiny in the corporate world. Luckily I got 6 months severance and landed a job the next day. I took my 6 months severance money and bought my first home in 1999. I started remodelling my home from day 1 and found out that I was really good at it. I knew nothing about real estate investing at this time.

During this dot com era, I changed jobs every year. Every company I went to went under, usually due to crazy overspending on lavish things, but I wasn't going to complain about free health club memberships that cost $100/mo. Although I was changing jobs constantly and I knew that they were through no fault of mine I was having fun living the crazy dot com life, parties, cruises, beer trolleys...

I finally landed a job that felt like a lifer. It's one of those jobs where you retire. I worked with a lady who had been there 35 years!

In 2001, my friends and I took a mountain biking trip to Crested Butte, CO. We camped for one week at Lake Irwin. No electric, cell phones, running water, etc... The town had a speed limit of 15mph. I remember cruising into town and slamming the brakes like WTF? However, at the end of 7 days, 15mph actually felt fast in town.

There was a point during the trip that I looked at my watch and calculated that it was 5:30pm in Chicago. At the time I was sitting on a rock on top of mountain at about 11,000ft having a PBJ sandwich with my buddies just chilling and looking at the clouds. If I were at work this week, I would be running down the street trying to catch my train at this time. What a contrast in speeds. It was at this moment that I knew something was wrong with my direction.

Coming back to work the next week I had lost all motivation. I had a great week in Crested Butte and we were all talking about going back the next year. I remember thinking, just another 51 weeks? I work 50 weeks a year to enjoy 2 weeks. Thinking deeper I also realized that I only enjoy Friday and Saturday out of the 7 days of the week. Doing the math, something wasn't right. Why do we enjoy only 2/7 of our lives?

With this realization, my next thought was how do I enjoy life more. First answer, move to Crested Butte, CO. But homes there cost twice what mine does and salaries are 1/3.

I did a quick calculation on my finances at the time. Jeez, I had a huge house, 2 cars and all the materialistic things I could have ever wanted. I remember seeing on Oprah that families survive on $50k a year. Here I was single, making almost twice as much as that and I couldn't save a penny. Somehow, one day I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad. Reading that changed my life. I realized that I was tied to my job. I also realized that it was completely my fault.

I started looking into shifting my income from active to passive. This meant real estate, CDs, money market accounts and high dividend stocks. Anything that put $1 into my account at the end of the month without me doing anything, I was reading about.

I had goals in 2002 to lower my expenses and to buy a rental property. I was following the Rich Dad passive income = expenses means you are out of the rat race. Living in Chicago, I quickly realized that there weren't that many positive cashflow properties out there. In addition, my mortgage on my huge house hindered my capabilities to get a loan on a rental property. I could not qualify for a investment loan so I failed my goals in 2002.

I knew I had to sell my primary residence to free up my cash. I completely remodeled the house in the fall of 2002. I also had to sell my Acura NSX. I loved this car so much, but I knew that selling was for a better future. I bought a pre-construction condo in Chicago that I calculated to have positive cashflow. It wouldn't be completed for 2 years. I sold my NSX and put the money down on that condo.

I sold my car and home and all my furniture in 2003 and moved back in with my parents. I came home with a hefty check for over $100,000. Added my to savings, I had a significant wad of money.

I had read almost every single Kiyosaki book and every real estate rental book out there the past two years. It was 2004 and now that my expenses were nil, I was really getting sick of my job. I obviously didn't want to stay at my parents house forever so I looked for a change.

I remember seeing on Loopnet that there were 4-plexes in Phoenix asking $150,000! I didn't know anything about Phoenix. I thought it was all brown and desert. I had a friend living in LA. He said that I could live with him. So I quit my job and moved to LA. On the way to LA, I stopped by Phoenix and bought 2 condos in Scottsdale and a preconstruction house. Talk about impulse shopping! I had 4 properties and no job!

These buys were all based on cashflow. I was a cashflow guy. If COCR was above 10%, I was buying. The condos had Section 8 tenants and would cashflow $183/mo at the price I paid with 20% down. One day from moving out of Chicago and I was cashflowing $366/mo! This was easy. LOL

I didn't really like living in LA. I was 30 minutes from the beach and real estate was crazy expensive. 4-flats were $1,000,000 and massively negative cashflow. I couldn't stay with my friend forever and the LA RE market was booming. Then one of my Section 8 tenants got kicked off of Section 8. It was reported that she was a prostitute and on drugs. I got her evicted and went to view the condo, which was of course, trashed. I had to fix it back up to get it re-rented. In the process, it occurred to me that I should just move into it. That's how I ended up in Phoenix.

The market in Phoenix went crazy during 2005. I literally hit the lottery. Homes were appreciating $10k per month. I made another preconstruction purchase based on the comps I felt I had $100k in equity at the purchase. My Chicago condo also closed with about $60k in equity.

In 2005 I had literally turned my networth into around $600k. However, I totally understood that this was pretaxed, pre-realtor commissioned money. Getting $600k cash in the bank was another story.

One day I was surfing craigslist when I came across an ad about preconstruction, cashflowing, mountain view townhomes in Salt Lake City. I made a call to the realtor, did some research online and decided that he wasn't bullshiting. I booked a flight the new morning to SLC, rented a car and met the realtor. I drove the areas, looked at the rents and bought 2 townhomes at $140k. I found a property manager and hired them and my first PM'd rental was born. My calculations didn't quite work out. My proforma rents were too high and I had accept lower rent. Turned out that both townhomes had break even cashflow. Well, one was -$7/mo. These townhomes have appreciated to $195k each, adding another $100k to my networth.

I also picked up a couple 1 acre lots in St. George, Utah. This was my first foray into land. In hindsight, I broke my cardinal positive cashflow rule. Buying land you are 99% assured negative cashflow.

2006 saw the downturn of the real estate market. This is where having positive cashflow or at least breakeven cashflow helps alot. I sold my lots in St. George at a loss of around $35k. I sold my condos in Scottsdale at the peak of the market. I sold one preconstruction house at about $65k below peak prices. My SLC and Chicago properties have held in value. My Phoenix properties have dropped huge. I've learned alot about value of geographic diversification.

My story doesn't have and ups and downs like the other ones. However, some months are bad and some are very good. During the bad months you wonder if you should have stayed in the comfortable cubicle and lived the easy predefined life. The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

I do sometimes wonder what my life and networth would be if I stayed at my job in 2004. I think about what I've experienced in the past 3 years since quitting. I'm not talking about the money. I'm talking about living in LA, PHX, traveling to SLC, St. George and dozens of other cities that I ended up not buying anything in. My ex-co-workers used to call me and the first thing they said was, "Hey, what city are you in today?" Before that I had spent 33 years in Chicago.

When I moved into my condo in Scottsdale, I experienced something for the first time in my life. I had lost the ambition for money. What I mean is the pursuit of making lots of money just to make money. I had a monthly payment of $600/mo which included all utilities. For all intensive purposes, I did not have to work for 10 years at my current burn rate. The need for money to pay bills was gone.

So now you wake up and what do you do? The answer is... anything you want! This is what many retirees face after 55 years. I faced it at 33. I had a new outlook on life. My main priority now was living life, I figure I have at least 50 years. Where does all the time go? LOL Money is important, but money is a means to live life. You shouldn't live your life to get the money. If I want to travel the world, I find out what it costs and then go make that money. I look at money with a purpose. It's purpose isn't to sit in a bank. It's purpose is for you to spend it on things that you enjoy.

I might have to look into joining that Lambo crowd on here... you guys are making them very appealing to me!

***The comment got repeated for some reason***
 

Real Deal Denver

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Just found this thread. This should be made into a book. I love real-life stories, and this one has all the juicy parts included. Great read. You have done a great service for so many here @biophase by writing this. Thanks!

life is about creating yourself.JPG
 

biophase

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And 9 years later, I finally purchased a vacation home in Crested Butte, CO. This is my first purchase of pure leisure, bad investment, horrible ROI, etc... but it is as exciting as when I got my Ferrari. So 17 years after visiting this tiny town in Colorado, I've finally fulfilled one of my dreams of owning a place there. It took a long long time!

Time for an update!!

Wow alot has changed since my last post in 2017.

First regarding the above vacation home I bought in Jan 2017... Well, I just upgraded to another home a block away that I spent over $1M on. Yes, that sounds crazy, and it was a crazy ride so let me tell you how it happened.

Ever since I bought the small condo in 2017, I've been mountain biking all summer passed a row of townhomes. I remember thinking, I would love to live there but I knew they were pricey, as the location although a few blocks away is 100x better.

An analogy would be a house with the ocean beach in the backyard vs. a home 400ft from the beach. Both are close, but one is exponentially better. So last year one of these townhouses became available for sale, but the price tag was $1.5M. Way out of my price range. I would literally ride by it everyday and think, some day...

Fast forward to a year later, price reduction to $1.35M. Still out of my price range, but it was just sitting. So I make a lowball offer not thinking that I'd get it. To make a long story short, after 2 months of negotiating, they accepted it. Oh shit, I just bought a $1M vacation home.

Honestly, I don't make enough money to be buying a $1M vacation home comfortably. But here's how I afford it. Because the home is "beachfront", it commands a higher rent and is in high demand. I calculated that renting this home out will help me cover 40% of the payments. So this equates to the same monthly payment as if I purchased a $600k home. In addition, I partnered with a friend of mine on this 50/50. So now my payment is as if I purchased a $300k home. Now, that I can afford. :) See, you can always find a way!

And what's even more awesome is that the condo I bought in 2017 has appreciated by 33%. So now that condo is on the market. Once it is sold, all the proceeds are going into this new townhome which would bring the payments down drastically. Funny that my pure leisure, no ROI purchase turned out to be a very good investment after all.

Another huge change is that in 2018, I sold my ecommerce business! This is the original business that I started in 2007.

In my last 2016 update I talked about the other ecommerce business that I started in 2015. In about 2017, I was running both businesses and realized that I was holding back both of them by splitting my time. So I decided to sell one so that I could devote 100% of my time to just one. So I sold the first one and am now running the second one. This second business is doing really well and I'm enjoying running it because it fits a purpose in my life, which is not just money any more.

I think the one constant is that there is always change. Actually, I am realizing that I need it. I never stay the same. There were points in my life where I would think, you know, if you never started this 4th business, or tried to buy a $1M home, you wouldn't have all this extra stress. But stress is what makes you grow.

For instance, this new townhome will be my first Airbnb. I'm assuming that I've got alot to learn here. I've never done a vacation rental. I'm sure there will be some headaches.

I'm also now partnering in businesses. By the end of this year, I will be involved in 3 partnerships. I'm sure there will be some headaches.

I started a new business last year in a very complicated industry. You guys can probably figure it out, but it's an industry that you can't advertise on Google, FB, Youtube and you can't sell it on Amazon. Think about how hard that is. There have been lots of headaches!

But still I try!
 
Last edited:

itsmalcolmhere

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My story is not as intricate or exciting as the other ones on here and I'm nowhere near the $1M range yet. But, after reading the other ones I felt compelled to write mine. It's actually pretty boring and normal and it's not the fastlane or slowlane. I'd call it driving in regular traffic and luckily catching all the green lights. :)

I had a normal education at the University of Illinois which ultimately ended with a Master's in Engineering. I knew that I was in college to get the degree only because it meant getting a higher paying job. I got my first job out of college with a hefty $35k salary. After two years of measly raises, I jumped jobs and got paid about $42k. I was in the wireless industry building cell sites. I was there for one year when they were bought out by Alltel. The company was shutting down the Chicago office and moving everyone to Little Rock, AR.

This was my first realization that you can't control your destiny in the corporate world. Luckily I got 6 months severance and landed a job the next day. I took my 6 months severance money and bought my first home in 1999. I started remodelling my home from day 1 and found out that I was really good at it. I knew nothing about real estate investing at this time.

During this dot com era, I changed jobs every year. Every company I went to went under, usually due to crazy overspending on lavish things, but I wasn't going to complain about free health club memberships that cost $100/mo. Although I was changing jobs constantly and I knew that they were through no fault of mine I was having fun living the crazy dot com life, parties, cruises, beer trolleys...

I finally landed a job that felt like a lifer. It's one of those jobs where you retire. I worked with a lady who had been there 35 years!

In 2001, my friends and I took a mountain biking trip to Crested Butte, CO. We camped for one week at Lake Irwin. No electric, cell phones, running water, etc... The town had a speed limit of 15mph. I remember cruising into town and slamming the brakes like WTF? However, at the end of 7 days, 15mph actually felt fast in town.

There was a point during the trip that I looked at my watch and calculated that it was 5:30pm in Chicago. At the time I was sitting on a rock on top of mountain at about 11,000ft having a PBJ sandwich with my buddies just chilling and looking at the clouds. If I were at work this week, I would be running down the street trying to catch my train at this time. What a contrast in speeds. It was at this moment that I knew something was wrong with my direction.

Coming back to work the next week I had lost all motivation. I had a great week in Crested Butte and we were all talking about going back the next year. I remember thinking, just another 51 weeks? I work 50 weeks a year to enjoy 2 weeks. Thinking deeper I also realized that I only enjoy Friday and Saturday out of the 7 days of the week. Doing the math, something wasn't right. Why do we enjoy only 2/7 of our lives?

With this realization, my next thought was how do I enjoy life more. First answer, move to Crested Butte, CO. But homes there cost twice what mine does and salaries are 1/3.

I did a quick calculation on my finances at the time. Jeez, I had a huge house, 2 cars and all the materialistic things I could have ever wanted. I remember seeing on Oprah that families survive on $50k a year. Here I was single, making almost twice as much as that and I couldn't save a penny. Somehow, one day I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad. Reading that changed my life. I realized that I was tied to my job. I also realized that it was completely my fault.

I started looking into shifting my income from active to passive. This meant real estate, CDs, money market accounts and high dividend stocks. Anything that put $1 into my account at the end of the month without me doing anything, I was reading about.

I had goals in 2002 to lower my expenses and to buy a rental property. I was following the Rich Dad passive income = expenses means you are out of the rat race. Living in Chicago, I quickly realized that there weren't that many positive cashflow properties out there. In addition, my mortgage on my huge house hindered my capabilities to get a loan on a rental property. I could not qualify for a investment loan so I failed my goals in 2002.

I knew I had to sell my primary residence to free up my cash. I completely remodeled the house in the fall of 2002. I also had to sell my Acura NSX. I loved this car so much, but I knew that selling was for a better future. I bought a pre-construction condo in Chicago that I calculated to have positive cashflow. It wouldn't be completed for 2 years. I sold my NSX and put the money down on that condo.

I sold my car and home and all my furniture in 2003 and moved back in with my parents. I came home with a hefty check for over $100,000. Added my to savings, I had a significant wad of money.

I had read almost every single Kiyosaki book and every real estate rental book out there the past two years. It was 2004 and now that my expenses were nil, I was really getting sick of my job. I obviously didn't want to stay at my parents house forever so I looked for a change.

I remember seeing on Loopnet that there were 4-plexes in Phoenix asking $150,000! I didn't know anything about Phoenix. I thought it was all brown and desert. I had a friend living in LA. He said that I could live with him. So I quit my job and moved to LA. On the way to LA, I stopped by Phoenix and bought 2 condos in Scottsdale and a preconstruction house. Talk about impulse shopping! I had 4 properties and no job!

These buys were all based on cashflow. I was a cashflow guy. If COCR was above 10%, I was buying. The condos had Section 8 tenants and would cashflow $183/mo at the price I paid with 20% down. One day from moving out of Chicago and I was cashflowing $366/mo! This was easy. LOL

I didn't really like living in LA. I was 30 minutes from the beach and real estate was crazy expensive. 4-flats were $1,000,000 and massively negative cashflow. I couldn't stay with my friend forever and the LA RE market was booming. Then one of my Section 8 tenants got kicked off of Section 8. It was reported that she was a prostitute and on drugs. I got her evicted and went to view the condo, which was of course, trashed. I had to fix it back up to get it re-rented. In the process, it occurred to me that I should just move into it. That's how I ended up in Phoenix.

The market in Phoenix went crazy during 2005. I literally hit the lottery. Homes were appreciating $10k per month. I made another preconstruction purchase based on the comps I felt I had $100k in equity at the purchase. My Chicago condo also closed with about $60k in equity.

In 2005 I had literally turned my networth into around $600k. However, I totally understood that this was pretaxed, pre-realtor commissioned money. Getting $600k cash in the bank was another story.

One day I was surfing craigslist when I came across an ad about preconstruction, cashflowing, mountain view townhomes in Salt Lake City. I made a call to the realtor, did some research online and decided that he wasn't bullshiting. I booked a flight the new morning to SLC, rented a car and met the realtor. I drove the areas, looked at the rents and bought 2 townhomes at $140k. I found a property manager and hired them and my first PM'd rental was born. My calculations didn't quite work out. My proforma rents were too high and I had accept lower rent. Turned out that both townhomes had break even cashflow. Well, one was -$7/mo. These townhomes have appreciated to $195k each, adding another $100k to my networth.

I also picked up a couple 1 acre lots in St. George, Utah. This was my first foray into land. In hindsight, I broke my cardinal positive cashflow rule. Buying land you are 99% assured negative cashflow.

2006 saw the downturn of the real estate market. This is where having positive cashflow or at least breakeven cashflow helps alot. I sold my lots in St. George at a loss of around $35k. I sold my condos in Scottsdale at the peak of the market. I sold one preconstruction house at about $65k below peak prices. My SLC and Chicago properties have held in value. My Phoenix properties have dropped huge. I've learned alot about value of geographic diversification.

My story doesn't have and ups and downs like the other ones. However, some months are bad and some are very good. During the bad months you wonder if you should have stayed in the comfortable cubicle and lived the easy predefined life. The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

I do sometimes wonder what my life and networth would be if I stayed at my job in 2004. I think about what I've experienced in the past 3 years since quitting. I'm not talking about the money. I'm talking about living in LA, PHX, traveling to SLC, St. George and dozens of other cities that I ended up not buying anything in. My ex-co-workers used to call me and the first thing they said was, "Hey, what city are you in today?" Before that I had spent 33 years in Chicago.

When I moved into my condo in Scottsdale, I experienced something for the first time in my life. I had lost the ambition for money. What I mean is the pursuit of making lots of money just to make money. I had a monthly payment of $600/mo which included all utilities. For all intensive purposes, I did not have to work for 10 years at my current burn rate. The need for money to pay bills was gone.

So now you wake up and what do you do? The answer is... anything you want! This is what many retirees face after 55 years. I faced it at 33. I had a new outlook on life. My main priority now was living life, I figure I have at least 50 years. Where does all the time go? LOL Money is important, but money is a means to live life. You shouldn't live your life to get the money. If I want to travel the world, I find out what it costs and then go make that money. I look at money with a purpose. It's purpose isn't to sit in a bank. It's purpose is for you to spend it on things that you enjoy.

I might have to look into joining that Lambo crowd on here... you guys are making them very appealing to me!

wow its been more than 10 years since this was posted. I love this story, im at the stage where i probably cant relate yet but i fully understand what you mean by looking at money with a purpose. Money cant buy you health, cant buy you love but it sure damn can afford the bare minimum of necessities and needs
 

Lenin

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Time for an update!!

Wow alot has changed since my last post in 2017.

First regarding the above vacation home I bought in Jan 2017... Well, I just upgraded to another home a block away that I spent over $1M on. Yes, that sounds crazy, and it was a crazy ride so let me tell you how it happened.

Ever since I bought the small condo in 2017, I've been mountain biking all summer passed a row of townhomes. I remember thinking, I would love to live there but I knew they were pricey, as the location although a few blocks away is 100x better.

An analogy would be a house with the ocean beach in the backyard vs. a home 400ft from the beach. Both are close, but one is exponentially better. So last year one of these townhouses became available for sale, but the price tag was $1.5M. Way out of my price range. I would literally ride by it everyday and think, some day...

Fast forward to a year later, price reduction to $1.35M. Still out of my price range, but it was just sitting. So I make a lowball offer not thinking that I'd get it. To make a long story short, after 2 months of negotiating, they accepted it. Oh shit, I just bought a $1M vacation home.

Honestly, I don't make enough money to be buying a $1M vacation home comfortably. But here's how I afford it. Because the home is "beachfront", it commands a higher rent and is in high demand. I calculated that renting this home out will help me cover 40% of the payments. So this equates to the same monthly payment as if I purchased a $600k home. In addition, I partnered with a friend of mine on this 50/50. So now my payment is as if I purchased a $300k home. Now, that I can afford. :) See, you can always find a way!

And what's even more awesome is that the condo I bought in 2017 has appreciated by 33%. So now that condo is on the market. Once it is sold, all the proceeds are going into this new townhome which would bring the payments down drastically. Funny that my pure leisure, no ROI purchase turned out to be a very good investment after all.

Another huge change is that in 2018, I sold my ecommerce business! This is the original business that I started in 2007.

In my last 2016 update I talked about the other ecommerce business that I started in 2015. In about 2017, I was running both businesses and realized that I was holding back both of them by splitting my time. So I decided to sell one so that I could devote 100% of my time to just one. So I sold the first one and am now running the second one. This second business is doing really well and I'm enjoying running it because it fits a purpose in my life, which is not just money any more.

I think the one constant is that there is always change. Actually, I am realizing that I need it. I never stay the same. There were points in my life where I would think, you know, if you never started this 4th business, or tried to buy a $1M home, you wouldn't have all this extra stress. But stress is what makes you grow.

For instance, this new townhome will be my first Airbnb. I'm assuming that I've got alot to learn here. I've never done a vacation rental. I'm sure there will be some headaches.

I'm also now partnering in businesses. By the end of this year, I will be involved in 3 partnerships. I'm sure there will be some headaches.

I started a new business last year in a very complicated industry. You guys can probably figure it out, but it's an industry that you can't advertise on Google, FB, Youtube and you can't sell it on Amazon. Think about how hard that is. There have been lots of headaches!

But still I try!
Following your story, thanks for sharing throughout all these years!
Very inspiring, I read everything, and thanks for the person who made a list of all the golden children.
Regards
Lenin
 
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WillHurtDontCare

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I like reading the old posts of established members of this forum because the tone of their old posts sounds like the tone of many of the newbies. It's helpful to remember that many of the people here had modest beginnings.

The biggest thing I've learned is that you should take risks in life.

Best quote in the post.
 

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I remember seeing on Loopnet that there were 4-plexes in Phoenix asking $150,000! I didn't know anything about Phoenix. I thought it was all brown and desert. I had a friend living in LA. He said that I could live with him. So I quit my job and moved to LA. On the way to LA, I stopped by Phoenix and bought 2 condos in Scottsdale and a preconstruction house. Talk about impulse shopping! I had 4 properties and no job!

These buys were all based on cashflow. I was a cashflow guy. If COCR was above 10%, I was buying. The condos had Section 8 tenants and would cashflow $183/mo at the price I paid with 20% down. One day from moving out of Chicago and I was cashflowing $366/mo! This was easy. LOL
I realize this was quite a while ago, but how did you get the loan for these properties with no job? I'm working toward house hacking currently, and I have had to jump through hoops for the loan since I've only been making bonus money for a year (they require two years for it to be counted as income).
 

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Just finished reading this all during free time at my 9-5 and i loved it! Thanks for sharing @biophase. Hopefully by replying some of the newer people on this forum similar to myself will be able to read this gold.
 
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biophase

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I realize this was quite a while ago, but how did you get the loan for these properties with no job? I'm working toward house hacking currently, and I have had to jump through hoops for the loan since I've only been making bonus money for a year (they require two years for it to be counted as income).

Loans were easy back then, no doc loans and state income loans were so easy to get.
 

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Loved reading this thread from beginning to end. Truly an inspiration @biophase

Funny because I had an Acura NSX and sold it a few years ago for 200% profit. Used that to purchase a single family home that still cash flows today.
 

biophase

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My goal is to own 10 properties free and clear worth about $1.5M which return 6-7% giving me about $100k/year passive. That income, plus my ecommerce business should be way more than enough for me to live happily. Such a simple goal right?
Thank you @htown for bumping this thread. I’ll have to make a longer update post as my last post was pre-pandemic.

We all know what the pandemic did to real estate prices. I made the above real estate goal in 2016.

Now in 2023, I own 5 properties worth about $5.5M. I’ve consolidated and traded up the smaller properties for large, more expensive ones. 2 of the homes are vacation rentals. 2 are long term and one is my primary.

My first thought looking back at this post was that I aimed way too low. It’s just interesting how your brain can sell yourself short. I’ve had many thoughts like these in the past years. Goals that were good at the time and now seem like I set a low bar. And now I’m wondering if I’m doing it right now, today.
 
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Bigguns50

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It’s just interesting how your brain can sell yourself short. I’ve had many thoughts like these in the past years. Goals that were good at the time and now seem like I set a low bar. And now I’m wondering if I’m doing it right now, today.
This is me 100%. I have written on my dry-erase board in my office, "Thing BIG....BIGGER!".
 

biophase

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First regarding the above vacation home I bought in Jan 2017... Well, I just upgraded to another home a block away that I spent over $1M on. Yes, that sounds crazy, and it was a crazy ride so let me tell you how it happened.

Fast forward to a year later, price reduction to $1.35M. Still out of my price range, but it was just sitting. So I make a lowball offer not thinking that I'd get it. To make a long story short, after 2 months of negotiating, they accepted it. Oh shit, I just bought a $1M vacation home.

Honestly, I don't make enough money to be buying a $1M vacation home comfortably.

It's been almost 4 years since my last long update on this thread. It's just crazy when I go back and see how old those posts are! So much has happened since 2019. I wrote the above post in June 2019. Note, that I mention that I wasn't comfortable purchasing a $1M vacation home at the time.

Well fast forward to 2023 and I have purchased 3 homes over $1M since then. It was really just a mindset number. Once I paid over $1M, the second home was easy and the third, even easier. It's all just a numbers thing and being comfortable with the magnitude.

The Colorado vacation home I purchased in 2019 turned out to be a homerun. It now comps out around $2.5M. C0vid sure ran up the prices in vacation areas where outdoors is the priority.

I sold the original condo in Colorado for $450k in July 2019 that I bought it in 2017 for $323k. I should feel pretty good about it right? Well it's worth around $900k today. Who knew??

In Nov 2020, I purchased a home in Sedona for $1M. This was during C0vid and was intended to be a part time Airbnb. However, C0vid continued into 2021 and Sedona had a boom in tourists. So now this is a full time Airbnb and returns around 6-8%.

In March 2021, I purchased a home in Vegas which took 18 months to complete. I moved into the home in Oct 2022. This was my most expensive purchase yet at $1.7M. I got in at a decent preconstruction price, so it is comping at around $2.3M now. I still don't know if this purchase will turn out to be a good or bad one. I guess when I update this thread in 2027 we will know!

In between these purchases, I made a couple smaller ones and I also sold my Chicago and Utah homes. Partially to help pay for the Vegas house and partially because of the insane run up in real estate prices in Utah.

My original post in 2007, referencing the real estate I sold in the past 2 years.
I bought a pre-construction condo in Chicago that I calculated to have positive cashflow. It wouldn't be completed for 2 years. I sold my NSX and put the money down on that condo.
I bought this in 2005 and sold in 2022 at a $20k loss. Not all real estate goes up. But it was a net positive because it cashflowed. Ironically the NSX I sold for the down payment is worth $100k more than I sold it for today.

My Chicago condo also closed with about $60k in equity.
This was in 2007. Timing is everything. LOL

One day I was surfing craigslist when I came across an ad about preconstruction, cashflowing, mountain view townhomes in Salt Lake City. I made a call to the realtor, did some research online and decided that he wasn't bullshiting. I booked a flight the new morning to SLC, rented a car and met the realtor. I drove the areas, looked at the rents and bought 2 townhomes at $140k.
I bought these in 2005 and sold both of these condos in 2021 and 2022 for $335k and $420k. Both were great buys.

My ecommerce business that I started in 2015 is still going strong. It's been really consistent and just chugging along. It's growing at a small percentage a year and kind of stuck in the $5M-$6M range right now. I'm just not dedicating enough time to it to grow it more. But it is still doing it's thing and donating alot of good each year.

When I type this all out, it seems like I'm just into real estate these days! Real estate doesn't really take alot of time. I mean if I purchase 2 properties a year, it takes maybe 1-2 months for each one. But what is crazy is the magnitude of the returns you can get on it if you get lucky or do it correctly. It takes so much work to make $100k in ecommerce, compared to one strategically placed bet or one low ball offer accepted in real estate.

I guess that's it for now. Nothing else new to report. :)
 

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When I type this all out, it seems like I'm just into real estate these days! Real estate doesn't really take alot of time. I mean if I purchase 2 properties a year, it takes maybe 1-2 months for each one
Thanks @biophase

Been reading references to you over here in many threads. Thought you were out of here already.

Great to have it you around and still talking. We need your older voices here a lot comrade.

Your thread here makes the process seem so easy.

Everything has a starting point.

Sticking to the lane and continuously running is what matters.

You have a decade + of progress here.

Some of us are knew on here and into entrepreneurship and are on a rush of some kind.

Your progress shows time is still a constant factor. And it's more valuable than money.

Which means we shouldn't sell it for money.
 
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htown

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It's been almost 4 years since my last long update on this thread. It's just crazy when I go back and see how old those posts are! So much has happened since 2019. I wrote the above post in June 2019. Note, that I mention that I wasn't comfortable purchasing a $1M vacation home at the time.

Well fast forward to 2023 and I have purchased 3 homes over $1M since then. It was really just a mindset number. Once I paid over $1M, the second home was easy and the third, even easier. It's all just a numbers thing and being comfortable with the magnitude.

The Colorado vacation home I purchased in 2019 turned out to be a homerun. It now comps out around $2.5M. C0vid sure ran up the prices in vacation areas where outdoors is the priority.

I sold the original condo in Colorado for $450k in July 2019 that I bought it in 2017 for $323k. I should feel pretty good about it right? Well it's worth around $900k today. Who knew??

In Nov 2020, I purchased a home in Sedona for $1M. This was during C0vid and was intended to be a part time Airbnb. However, C0vid continued into 2021 and Sedona had a boom in tourists. So now this is a full time Airbnb and returns around 6-8%.

In March 2021, I purchased a home in Vegas which took 18 months to complete. I moved into the home in Oct 2022. This was my most expensive purchase yet at $1.7M. I got in at a decent preconstruction price, so it is comping at around $2.3M now. I still don't know if this purchase will turn out to be a good or bad one. I guess when I update this thread in 2027 we will know!

In between these purchases, I made a couple smaller ones and I also sold my Chicago and Utah homes. Partially to help pay for the Vegas house and partially because of the insane run up in real estate prices in Utah.

My original post in 2007, referencing the real estate I sold in the past 2 years.

I bought this in 2005 and sold in 2022 at a $20k loss. Not all real estate goes up. But it was a net positive because it cashflowed. Ironically the NSX I sold for the down payment is worth $100k more than I sold it for today.


This was in 2007. Timing is everything. LOL


I bought these in 2005 and sold both of these condos in 2021 and 2022 for $335k and $420k. Both were great buys.

My ecommerce business that I started in 2015 is still going strong. It's been really consistent and just chugging along. It's growing at a small percentage a year and kind of stuck in the $5M-$6M range right now. I'm just not dedicating enough time to it to grow it more. But it is still doing it's thing and donating alot of good each year.

When I type this all out, it seems like I'm just into real estate these days! Real estate doesn't really take alot of time. I mean if I purchase 2 properties a year, it takes maybe 1-2 months for each one. But what is crazy is the magnitude of the returns you can get on it if you get lucky or do it correctly. It takes so much work to make $100k in ecommerce, compared to one strategically placed bet or one low ball offer accepted in real estate.

I guess that's it for now. Nothing else new to report. :)

I re-read this full thread again and it's really inspiring to read about your 16 year journey here. Not to mention the massive mindset shifts that you've made since the beginning. I tried to message you but it doesn't appear that you accept messages. If you were to start fresh in ecommerce today, is there course, conference or program that you would recommend to someone relatively new?

I did dropshipping back in 2008 and gave up on it after my supplier decided to also sell on eBay so I could never compete with their pricing. I know a lot has changed since then so I am looking to shorten the learning curve as much as possible. Thanks in advance.
 

biophase

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Thanks @biophase

Been reading references to you over here in many threads. Thought you were out of here already.

Great to have it you around and still talking. We need your older voices here a lot comrade.

Your thread here makes the process seem so easy.

Everything has a starting point.

Sticking to the lane and continuously running is what matters.

You have a decade + of progress here.

Some of us are knew on here and into entrepreneurship and are on a rush of some kind.

Your progress shows time is still a constant factor. And it's more valuable than money.

Which means we shouldn't sell it for money.
I think that it is a lot of consistency and calculating numbers correctly. When you are young, you want everything right away.

Nobody wants to be the 50yr driving a Ferrari. But when you do eventually become 50, you still have a life to live.

Hopefully you got the Ferrari at 30 or 40. But I would hope you would at least be able to afford it at 50 as a backup!

For example with the 2 homes I purchased in 2005 for $140k. They cashflowed $100-$200/mo with 20% down ($28k). Not much at all.

Then my ARM loans that adjusted from 8.5% down to 2.7%. Rents went from $900/mo to $1500/mo. So my cash flow increased by a lot!

The homes were stuck at $200k for 15 years. Even in 2020, they were worth $250k only. In 2021 they went to $330k and 2022 all the way to $420k.

So for the first 15 years these homes are bringing in around $3$k-12k/year and no appreciation. Then suddenly, up $200k in 2 years.

Imagine being 25 and I tell you to purchase this home and at 40 you’ll cash out. It’s a hard long term pill to swallow. But $28k down for $3k-$12k/yr cash flow and then $280k appreciation isn’t a bad investment for 15 years. Especially since it was passive.

I always invested long term so I’d have less stress on my business. If my business failed I always knew I had real estate investments to retire on.
 

biophase

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I re-read this full thread again and it's really inspiring to read about your 16 year journey here. Not to mention the massive mindset shifts that you've made since the beginning. I tried to message you but it doesn't appear that you accept messages. If you were to start fresh in ecommerce today, is there course, conference or program that you would recommend to someone relatively new?

I did dropshipping back in 2008 and gave up on it after my supplier decided to also sell on eBay so I could never compete with their pricing. I know a lot has changed since then so I am looking to shorten the learning curve as much as possible. Thanks in advance.
I don’t know of any e-commerce courses right now that I would recommend. In all honesty, I don’t read or even look at any of them in any detail.

E-commerce is very competitive now. Back when I started e-commerce was the second option of purchasing. Before it was going to a store first, ordering online was the second option. Nowadays ordering online is the first option.

If I were to start fresh, I would follow MJ‘s CENTS for e-commerce, just as if it were a brick and mortar store.

YOU WILL HAVE TIME AND scale ALREADY IN YOUR FAVOR.

CONTROL AND ENTRY ARE NOT DETERMINED BY THE WEBSITE, HOWEVER, THEY ARE DETERMINED BY YOUR PRODUCT.

THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE IS NEED, you NEED TO DETERMINE IF PEOPLE NEED YOUR PRODUCT IN ORDER FOR YOUR E-COMMERCE BUSINESS TO BE SUCCESSFUL. That is where I would start.

You have to figure out the need and value proposition first.

Edit: I don’t know why some sentences were all capitalized. I am using speech to text while walking and do not have time to correct it yet.
 
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YanC

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Thanks a lot for updating your progress along the years @biophase . I reread all your posts in this thread and it's great to follow your steady 20 years process until today. Congrats on the big achievements !

Your story is among those who most resonated with me when I joined the forum some years ago. It's funny because I now find myself basically in the same spot you were in 2006. In my early 30s, a bunch of real estate plus other small investments netting me around 3x what I would make as an engineer in my country, no job, plenty of time on my hands... Some days are good, others are bad. Anything is possible at this point, which is both amazing and daunting because picking a direction is not easy.

I hope to be like you when I grow up :) Wish you the best for what's next.
 

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