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SUCCESS STORY: Biophase (eCommerce, Real estate)

biophase

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Kenric, what kind of investments you do now?
Can you share some details on your approach nowadays to creating passive income streams and maybe some vital lessons that you learned?

Sure, the biggest difference in my approach to passive income now is that I am not trying to maximize ROI. I am trying to minimize risk and headaches.

In the past if I had $100k, I would have bought 4 $100k properties with $25k down on each one. I may have cashflowed $400/mo total but if one property became empty I'd be -$500/mo. If 2 were empty I'm looking at -$1400/mo.

Today, I would just buy 1 property cash and let it cashflow $700/mo. If it becomes empty I'm only at -$200/mo. I don't sweat about not being able to find a tenant.

Also I've found that because I cashflow so much on a single property that I am much more likely to make upgrades and improvements. On the property that is cashflowing $1100/mo, I will gladly recarpet for $1200 because it takes me one month to recuperate that money. Whereas if I were making $200/mo, I may push the tenant to accept a carpet cleaning only. I have found that these improvements over time allow me to increase my rent prices and my tenants stay longer.

One of my tenants in Utah requested that I install a garage door opener in my townhome and we split the cost. This was about 2 years ago. I did not know that I didn't have one! I can't believe my tenants had been manually opening the garage door for 7 years! I didn't care what it cost. I feel that a garage door opener was a necessity in life. So I gladly had them installed them right away at no cost to them. Of course it made them real happy. Now I can advertise that my units have a garage door opener, because now I also know others do not. lol

I know I miss out on appreciation and leverage, but at this point I don't really care about that. I would much rather have less units and pay them down vs. using the money to acquire and leverage into more properties.

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?

PS - I should mention that I may give vacation rentals and airbnb a shot soon. I'm looking to try it on one property and see how I like it.
 

SethTavis

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Sure, the biggest difference in my approach to passive income now is that I am not trying to maximize ROI. I am trying to minimize risk and headaches.

In the past if I had $100k, I would have bought 4 $100k properties with $25k down on each one. I may have cashflowed $400/mo total but if one property became empty I'd be -$500/mo. If 2 were empty I'm looking at -$1400/mo.

Today, I would just buy 1 property cash and let it cashflow $700/mo. If it becomes empty I'm only at -$200/mo. I don't sweat about not being able to find a tenant.

Also I've found that because I cashflow so much on a single property that I am much more likely to make upgrades and improvements. On the property that is cashflowing $1100/mo, I will gladly recarpet for $1200 because it takes me one month to recuperate that money. Whereas if I were making $200/mo, I may push the tenant to accept a carpet cleaning only. I have found that these improvements over time allow me to increase my rent prices and my tenants stay longer.

One of my tenants in Utah requested that I install a garage door opener in my townhome and we split the cost. This was about 2 years ago. I did not know that I didn't have one! I can't believe my tenants had been manually opening the garage door for 7 years! I didn't care what it cost. I feel that a garage door opener was a necessity in life. So I gladly had them installed them right away at no cost to them. Of course it made them real happy. Now I can advertise that my units have a garage door opener, because now I also know others do not. lol

I know I miss out on appreciation and leverage, but at this point I don't really care about that. I would much rather have less units and pay them down vs. using the money to acquire and leverage into more properties.

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?

PS - I should mention that I may give vacation rentals and airbnb a shot soon. I'm looking to try it on one property and see how I like it.

Thank you for sharing this and keeping this updated for so long, your in inspiration.
 
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MattCour

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Sure, the biggest difference in my approach to passive income now is that I am not trying to maximize ROI. I am trying to minimize risk and headaches.

In the past if I had $100k, I would have bought 4 $100k properties with $25k down on each one. I may have cashflowed $400/mo total but if one property became empty I'd be -$500/mo. If 2 were empty I'm looking at -$1400/mo.

Today, I would just buy 1 property cash and let it cashflow $700/mo. If it becomes empty I'm only at -$200/mo. I don't sweat about not being able to find a tenant.

Also I've found that because I cashflow so much on a single property that I am much more likely to make upgrades and improvements. On the property that is cashflowing $1100/mo, I will gladly recarpet for $1200 because it takes me one month to recuperate that money. Whereas if I were making $200/mo, I may push the tenant to accept a carpet cleaning only. I have found that these improvements over time allow me to increase my rent prices and my tenants stay longer.

One of my tenants in Utah requested that I install a garage door opener in my townhome and we split the cost. This was about 2 years ago. I did not know that I didn't have one! I can't believe my tenants had been manually opening the garage door for 7 years! I didn't care what it cost. I feel that a garage door opener was a necessity in life. So I gladly had them installed them right away at no cost to them. Of course it made them real happy. Now I can advertise that my units have a garage door opener, because now I also know others do not. lol

I know I miss out on appreciation and leverage, but at this point I don't really care about that. I would much rather have less units and pay them down vs. using the money to acquire and leverage into more properties.

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?

PS - I should mention that I may give vacation rentals and airbnb a shot soon. I'm looking to try it on one property and see how I like it.

Awesome update! Are you still using the Muni ETFs for income as well?
 

biophase

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Awesome update! Are you still using the Muni ETFs for income as well?

I still have shares of the fund FMN. I am hesitant to purchase more of this because I feel like real estate offers more control.

For example, the stock FMN pays a 6% dividend monthly tax free.

This means that if I buy $100k of it (6666 shares), it cashflows about $500/mo.
I can purchase a condo free and clear for $100k and cashflow about the same (but not tax free but I get depreciation).

If the stock goes down by $1, I'm down $6666. I have no control over its market value. You can make the same argument for the condo.
If the stock lowers its dividend, I can't do anything about it. Likewise, you can argue that my condo's market rent may drop.

However, with the condo I have some choices. I am in control of my rent, so I can get creative and find a way to increase rents. With the stock, I cannot do anything about their dividend payout.
With the condo, I can also remodel and improve it to increase its value. With the stock, it is worth what its worth.

I understand that the stock is a truly passive solution. So the choice between these two for me is difficult, but I lean towards real estate for now.
 

biophase

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My last update was June 2015 so it's only been 15 months.

Ecommerce and Amazon has pretty much been the same. Although I think that my update in 2018 may be different since Amazon just changed their review and giveaway policy. That did not affect me at all since I don't use those tactics, but I wonder what new strategies people will come up with now.

I've been doing this for almost 10 years now and my outlook has changed in the past year. Honestly, making money does not excite me anymore. After a while the sales numbers are just numbers and everything is the same. It's just like being at the same job for 10 years, except you own it.

I started a new business last July and its largest expense is its charitable portion. I am finding that the charitable portion is the most fulfilling part of this business. I don't look at the bottom line. The goal is this business is not to maximize profits or even to make money. My mind has shifted a little and I'm beginning to understand the likes of Elon Musk, Tony Hsieh and Jeff Bezos.

These guys are obviously not in it for the money. If you ever wonder how Amazon can afford to ship you a $10 order 2 day UPS air for free, the answer is that they really can't. They are losing money on your order. As an ecommerce person, that made no sense to me, until now. Think about how 2 day shipping is almost the norm now. In 3 years, same day delivery could be the norm. 9 years ago, I was charging $19.99 for ground shipping and people were paying for it.

My point is that Amazon turned 2 day shipping into the speed that we expect online orders now. They sacrificed profit to improve online delivery to the masses. Think about this value add for us as consumers as a whole. They did something that everyone thought was insane, and paved the way for all consumers to get 2 day free shipping from many other stores.

Because my goal is not profit per sale now, I am free to do things that sound crazy. For example, I can price my product at $5 and lose $1 on each sale and happily sell 2000 of these and lose $2000. Why? Because each sale is beneficial to my cause. So in my head I'm donating an extra $2000 to a cause.

This is problem for my competitors who are trying to make money because I can and am willing to lose money for months on a product now. How can they compete against a person who is not trying to make money? So when all my competitors are at $15 and I am at $5 and running $.80/PPC, they are probably wondering WTF?

I'm not doing all of this to lose money. I understand that I am building something here that may take 3-5 years. I am building a brand and an organization that will be counted on in the future for a steady stream of donations. It's not just about me and how much goes into my pocket. I can afford to lose money or break even now, but as the company grows and matures I will being to tighten the costs and make it profitable. Every order doesn't need to be profitable, but at the end of the year, the company should make at least $1.

I literally think years in the future now. I don't look at this year or next year. I try to picture what the company will look like in 2020. It's a very different mindset for me now.

There are things that I want to do with my current business that sound crazy and definitely will lose money per transaction. For example, I have a product selling for $60, cost is $35, shipping is $20 (it's huge). How could I possibly sell this on Amazon? No way right? But now I'm thinking, maybe I could run this at a loss for one year and figure it out during this time. Not sure, how I'll solve it but I need to try vs. just giving up right?

(more to come)
 
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Bigguns50

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Thanks for the Excellent update @biophase.

I may give vacation rentals and airbnb a shot soon
I'm renovating my main bathroom and will Airbnb a spare bedroom my Wife and I have soon. There's a Holiday Inn and Knights Inn under construction a mile from me. I'd like to do this in AZ as well...in the process of figuring out how.
 

MattCour

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I still have shares of the fund FMN. I am hesitant to purchase more of this because I feel like real estate offers more control.

For example, the stock FMN pays a 6% dividend monthly tax free.

This means that if I buy $100k of it (6666 shares), it cashflows about $500/mo.
I can purchase a condo free and clear for $100k and cashflow about the same (but not tax free but I get depreciation).

If the stock goes down by $1, I'm down $6666. I have no control over its market value. You can make the same argument for the condo.
If the stock lowers its dividend, I can't do anything about it. Likewise, you can argue that my condo's market rent may drop.

However, with the condo I have some choices. I am in control of my rent, so I can get creative and find a way to increase rents. With the stock, I cannot do anything about their dividend payout.
With the condo, I can also remodel and improve it to increase its value. With the stock, it is worth what its worth.

I understand that the stock is a truly passive solution. So the choice between these two for me is difficult, but I lean towards real estate for now.

Excellent explanation, thanks for that. It's seems as though both options have their pros and cons. I love the idea of Muni closed end funds bc there are no vancancies, bad tenants, or any of the other negatives that go along with real estate.
 

Late Start

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My last update was June 2015 so it's only been 15 months.

I started a new business last July and its largest expense is its charitable portion. I am finding that the charitable portion is the most fulfilling part of this business. I don't look at the bottom line. The goal is this business is not to maximize profits or even to make money. My mind has shifted a little and I'm beginning to understand the likes of Elon Musk, Tony Hsieh and Jeff Bezos.

(more to come)

This is what led me down this path, to the book, and everything that has come after. It started when I was 25 and was on the City Commission of my hometown for four years (Fort Scott, KS - little town of about 8500 people about 90 minutes south of KC). I realized during those four years that while money could not buy happiness, it can solve a lot of problems, and help people and groups that want to help solve those problems. Three years after my term was up, I went to work doing IT for B&W Trailer Hitches in Humboldt, KS, and the owner there is both incredibly kind and generous. That company makes seven-figures a month now, but the founder and owner lives in a house not much bigger than some of the ones I grew up in. He gives endlessly, and is incredibly generous to his employees. This is what he did when the Great Recession temporarily killed the demand for premium trailer hitches:


Joe's the real deal. His engineering department actually did the designs for the product line I've got in development for free, just as a favor for a former employee and small business owner. Before I stumbled onto the book, I figured I would have to die and come back as a LaRoche (local MLB family) to actually make that happen, but it looks like my baseball skills will be irrelevant to reaching my goals, which is good, because I always sucked at baseball.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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My last update was June 2015 so it's only been 15 months.

Ecommerce and Amazon has pretty much been the same. Although I think that my update in 2018 may be different since Amazon just changed their review and giveaway policy. That did not affect me at all since I don't use those tactics, but I wonder what new strategies people will come up with now.

I've been doing this for almost 10 years now and my outlook has changed in the past year. Honestly, making money does not excite me anymore. After a while the sales numbers are just numbers and everything is the same. It's just like being at the same job for 10 years, except you own it.

I started a new business last July and its largest expense is its charitable portion. I am finding that the charitable portion is the most fulfilling part of this business. I don't look at the bottom line. The goal is this business is not to maximize profits or even to make money. My mind has shifted a little and I'm beginning to understand the likes of Elon Musk, Tony Hsieh and Jeff Bezos.

These guys are obviously not in it for the money. If you ever wonder how Amazon can afford to ship you a $10 order 2 day UPS air for free, the answer is that they really can't. They are losing money on your order. As an ecommerce person, that made no sense to me, until now. Think about how 2 day shipping is almost the norm now. In 3 years, same day delivery could be the norm. 9 years ago, I was charging $19.99 for ground shipping and people were paying for it.

My point is that Amazon turned 2 day shipping into the speed that we expect online orders now. They sacrificed profit to improve online delivery to the masses. Think about this value add for us as consumers as a whole. They did something that everyone thought was insane, and paved the way for all consumers to get 2 day free shipping from many other stores.

Because my goal is not profit per sale now, I am free to do things that sound crazy. For example, I can price my product at $5 and lose $1 on each sale and happily sell 2000 of these and lose $2000. Why? Because each sale is beneficial to my cause. So in my head I'm donating an extra $2000 to a cause.

This is problem for my competitors who are trying to make money because I can and am willing to lose money for months on a product now. How can they compete against a person who is not trying to make money? So when all my competitors are at $15 and I am at $5 and running $.80/PPC, they are probably wondering WTF?

I'm not doing all of this to lose money. I understand that I am building something here that may take 3-5 years. I am building a brand and an organization that will be counted on in the future for a steady stream of donations. It's not just about me and how much goes into my pocket. I can afford to lose money or break even now, but as the company grows and matures I will being to tighten the costs and make it profitable. Every order doesn't need to be profitable, but at the end of the year, the company should make at least $1.

I literally think years in the future now. I don't look at this year or next year. I try to picture what the company will look like in 2020. It's a very different mindset for me now.

There are things that I want to do with my current business that sound crazy and definitely will lose money per transaction. For example, I have a product selling for $60, cost is $35, shipping is $20 (it's huge). How could I possibly sell this on Amazon? No way right? But now I'm thinking, maybe I could run this at a loss for one year and figure it out during this time. Not sure, how I'll solve it but I need to try vs. just giving up right?

(more to come)

And this is what "I have enough money" looks like.

Cross referencing this thread...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-much-money-is-enough-for-you.70285
 

Vectra1

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My last update was June 2015 so it's only been 15 months.

Ecommerce and Amazon has pretty much been the same. Although I think that my update in 2018 may be different since Amazon just changed their review and giveaway policy. That did not affect me at all since I don't use those tactics, but I wonder what new strategies people will come up with now.

I've been doing this for almost 10 years now and my outlook has changed in the past year. Honestly, making money does not excite me anymore. After a while the sales numbers are just numbers and everything is the same. It's just like being at the same job for 10 years, except you own it.

I started a new business last July and its largest expense is its charitable portion. I am finding that the charitable portion is the most fulfilling part of this business. I don't look at the bottom line. The goal is this business is not to maximize profits or even to make money. My mind has shifted a little and I'm beginning to understand the likes of Elon Musk, Tony Hsieh and Jeff Bezos.

These guys are obviously not in it for the money. If you ever wonder how Amazon can afford to ship you a $10 order 2 day UPS air for free, the answer is that they really can't. They are losing money on your order. As an ecommerce person, that made no sense to me, until now. Think about how 2 day shipping is almost the norm now. In 3 years, same day delivery could be the norm. 9 years ago, I was charging $19.99 for ground shipping and people were paying for it.

My point is that Amazon turned 2 day shipping into the speed that we expect online orders now. They sacrificed profit to improve online delivery to the masses. Think about this value add for us as consumers as a whole. They did something that everyone thought was insane, and paved the way for all consumers to get 2 day free shipping from many other stores.

Because my goal is not profit per sale now, I am free to do things that sound crazy. For example, I can price my product at $5 and lose $1 on each sale and happily sell 2000 of these and lose $2000. Why? Because each sale is beneficial to my cause. So in my head I'm donating an extra $2000 to a cause.

This is problem for my competitors who are trying to make money because I can and am willing to lose money for months on a product now. How can they compete against a person who is not trying to make money? So when all my competitors are at $15 and I am at $5 and running $.80/PPC, they are probably wondering WTF?

I'm not doing all of this to lose money. I understand that I am building something here that may take 3-5 years. I am building a brand and an organization that will be counted on in the future for a steady stream of donations. It's not just about me and how much goes into my pocket. I can afford to lose money or break even now, but as the company grows and matures I will being to tighten the costs and make it profitable. Every order doesn't need to be profitable, but at the end of the year, the company should make at least $1.

I literally think years in the future now. I don't look at this year or next year. I try to picture what the company will look like in 2020. It's a very different mindset for me now.

There are things that I want to do with my current business that sound crazy and definitely will lose money per transaction. For example, I have a product selling for $60, cost is $35, shipping is $20 (it's huge). How could I possibly sell this on Amazon? No way right? But now I'm thinking, maybe I could run this at a loss for one year and figure it out during this time. Not sure, how I'll solve it but I need to try vs. just giving up right?

(more to come)


Your thought process never ceases to amaze me, its so out of the box, excellent update, thanks for sharing !
 

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!


Thank you for the motivation @biophase I am a real estate investor as well. I am actually starting experiencing the good old "Cashflow" I own 5 homes at the time (1 of them is a triplex) and looking to buy another 3-4 units in 2017. As soon as I cashflow enought for all my daily expenses I should start enjoying this world more. I am currently 26 years old, I want to be financial free by 28-30. We should link up soon ! Add me on instagram: MILANTHEREALTOR
 
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RichOC

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What an incredible thread, can't believe I've only just found it now. Huge thanks for sharing this with everyone.

I'm confident yours will be a name people remember. I seriously admire your ballsy attitude.
 

biophase

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Thanks for commenting on this post! It made me re-read what I posted many many years ago!

Found this part from 2008 interesting...
biophase said:
I realized that what I really wanted now was to be geographically free. This came from wanting travel to Chicago in the summers and live in Scottsdale in the winters. I also wanted to spend summers in Crested Butte, CO. In order for me to live there or live anywhere I wanted I realized that I needed an income stream that was location independent.

6 years later, I finally did it.

Stuck? Change Your Environment!

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!
 
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JAJT

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Congrats!

I don't want for much in the way of material possessions but a vacation home (or cottage) is one of those few things that I really can't wait to be able to properly afford. A place to invite friends and family and build fun memories and really kick your feet up.

Glad you got yours! You certainly earned it :)
 
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Incredible read @biophase! Great to see the progression and the way your thinking grew. Imagine the life of you living in your now vacation home - not having to rush out at 6 am to go to some job, but instead, you can go climb a mountain or read a book - even learn how to cook ;)

I think I could learn a lot from you.
 

Iwokeup

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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 get 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!
Sweet! We love CB and I'm sure that you're going to love it.

What part of town?

Cheers!
 

mindfulimmortal

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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 get 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!

Congrats on all the hard (and smart) work you put in to get your dreams brother! Thanks for being a part of this community and sharing your knowledge and inspiration!
 
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Glad i found this post, it really is GOLD.

What you said about making good decisions when you're young, to profit in the future really resonated with me.

You, Biophase, are mindset goals.
 

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Just re-read most of this and realized I want to be @biophase when I grow up.

Congrats on the house!
 
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Just re-read most of this and realized I want to be @biophase when I grow up.

I just re-read this whole thread and found out that in the last 4-5 years that I've been here I've managed to completely miss this thread. Somehow never read it before right now! I think I've read so much of your stuff over the years that I just assumed I had read this one too.

I always assumed you started with your online stuff and grew from there. I didn't even know you owned real estate! Hahahaha!

I love that this thread is both relatively short and that the updates are so far apart that you really get a meta-feel for how the progress and mindset has changed over time. Almost like an "active" time capsule that gets buried up, reviewed and added to every year so before being put back into the ground.

Well, great story all the same. Truly inspiring as always!
 

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In Mt. Crested Butte, it's almost ski in ski out.
Nice! If it's that close to the lifts then you have definitely arrived.

Congrats again!! :D
 

MJ DeMarco

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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 get 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!

Featured, congrats man!

I also think it's notable that you decided to BUY which is undoubtedly more expensive and less flexible than periodic renting -- controlling your ability to leave / go whenever you want sometimes has no price tag. I would do the same thing -- I would want my vacation digs to be MINE and under my direction.

:thumbsup:
 
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biophase

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Nice! If it's that close to the lifts then you have definitely arrived.
Congrats again!! :D

It's not super impressive. Just a simple 2 bed 2 bath 1 car garage condo. Hope to update in 3-4 years with something nicer!

IMG_0986.PNG IMG_0972.PNG IMG_0971.PNG
IMG_0975.PNG
 

biophase

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Featured, congrats man!

I also think it's notable that you decided to BUY which is undoubtedly more expensive and less flexible than periodic renting -- controlling your ability to leave / go whenever you want sometimes has no price tag. I would do the same thing -- I would want my vacation digs to be MINE and under my direction.

:thumbsup:

So far I've been there 3 times since owning it for 2 months. The best benefit is that when I leave to go there, I don't need to pack anything! I moved some of my clothes there and now I have my tiny office set up. I can just hop in the car and as if I were going to a store that is 11 hours away! The only thing I forgot to account for last time was my contact lenses, but that problem is solved since I left a bunch there now.
 

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Congratulations on your success so far!
Your new place looks pretty awesome and it's all yours and a product of your hard dedicated work. Good for you!
 

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So far I've been there 3 times since owning it for 2 months. The best benefit is that when I leave to go there, I don't need to pack anything! I moved some of my clothes there and now I have my tiny office set up. I can just hop in the car and as if I were going to a store that is 11 hours away! The only thing I forgot to account for last time was my contact lenses, but that problem is solved since I left a bunch there now.


FU@K!NG AWESOME!
 

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