Posted by kevin (tn) on May 01, 2002 at 15:50:32:
Thanks for your response. I too find tv a waste of time. I have only one in the house and no cable. I am also up until 12 or 1 reading just about every night and learning all I can. I have managed to buy two duplexes as rentals over the last few months, but I guess I feel like I’m not moving as fast as I would like to move. Again, thanks for your response.
I need time!!! - Posted by kevin (tn)
Posted by kevin (tn) on May 01, 2002 at 14:15:10:
For those of you out there that have full-time jobs and a family, how do you find time to devote to your real estate business?
My income is decent, I have some knowledge, I just don’t have much time other than late nights to read and study. Any good suggestions?
Re: I need time!!! - Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA)
Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA) on May 02, 2002 at 21:24:23:
Kevin–I got your email response saying that you compare yourself to those who post here doing many deals a year. I lost your email apparently.
The people who do a lot of deals are transaction investors. They buy and resell quickly. Some fix up some do not. But they are not the long-term hold rental investors. My impression is that many of them build up enough money and experience that they do
buy some holder properties too.
The slow, patient rental investor need not be racing. Work at a pace that fits your temperment, resources, desires, and opportunities. Many long-term invests start by paying market value for their properties. Sounds like you have already beaten that formula–having bought one of your duplexes on an auction, at what was a good price.
You could, if it suits you, emulate some bargain-buyers. They just keep alert for potential good deals, watch and wait. Then, when one comes along, the move out, usually quite quickly, and snatch it. Often they do no advertising. They just know what to look for and keep their eyes open.
Good Investing***Ron Starr
Contrdictions. An adrenaline junkie? - Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA)
Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA) on May 02, 2002 at 15:36:07:
Kevin–(TN)--------------
I saw your other post where you indicate that you have bought two duplexes already. Congratulations. You are doing fine.
Now, you also say you feel you are not moving fast enough. Your course is common for those who are buying for the long-term–holding rental properties. You feelings are pretty common. Many people drop out of investing or at least acquiring more properties because they don’t see great increases in their wealth as soon as they thought they would. Long term investing does not work that way, usually.
What happens is that for the first few years of your long-term real estate investing career, your net worth goes up very little. In fact, you may have a down-turn when you start because of educating yourself, buying tools, paying closing costs–which are not recoverable.
Then, in a few years, you will find your net worth is increasing at an accelerated rate. Your properties are appreciating in both market value and the rents that you can charge. The mortgages are being paid down. You have more experience. You are more efficient and effective. You are probably buying more properties a little faster, too, perhaps using the saved cash flow from the existing properties or from refinancing cash out.
Later still, your net worth is shooting up, for the reasaons mentioned above, plus you are getting loans paid off, you are buying more or bigger properties. You really know what you are doing, and you may be hiring other people so that you are leverage your TIME.
During the early years, with a few rentals, such as you have now, you can develop your system. Get together your bookkeeping operation, your policies, your particular investment style. You will be learning better how to do everything. If you have only a couple of properties, the demands on your time will not be too great. You can contemplate how you want to go. You have less at risk, so will not be as worried. You can experiment with a few different investment ideas and management approaches, if you wish.
Now, you seem to have two contradictory things mentioned in your post here. You complain of lack of time and you complain of not “moving as fast as I would like to move.” You may not even have an investing problem. You may just have a need for more excitement or action. Maybe you are really an adrenaline junkie. If so, you might either try to get out of that state or you might change your investment program to provide that excitement that you want.
The gambling personality is not one with which I am familiar–none of my family, acquaintances, or friends are like that. However, perhaps that is where you are.
Here are some more exciting ways to invest in real estate than in long-term rental holding–which tends to be rather boring, really. I know, because I do it myself.
Buy properties at auctions. I like the excitement of auctions myself.
Become a developer. These people typically live on the edge.
Become a buy and resell quickly investor. Probably not as exciting at the previous suggestions, but certainly more exciting than buy/hold/rent investing.
You might also consider buying more rental units as fast as you can, so that you put a lot more pressure on yourself. Maybe this is what you really wand.
Now, it will be somewhat difficult to do the above in limited time. But that is how many people start out. I use the time before breakfast to call to my property managers and others in OK, two hours ahead of me here in CA. I use my lunch time to go to the post office and bank, pay bills, and call people. Work on my current properties on the weekend. Some work can be done after work, too. Just yesterday evening, after work I downloaded information for many properties and their owners so that I could send my solicitation-to-buy postcards out. Then played bridge a couple of hours after that. I’ll probably see about 6-8 hours of TV this week. And somehow I don’t seem to miss seeing more.
Does this reduce social time or family time? Sure. You have to choose what you want to spend you time on. You and I and everybody else have the same amount of time allocated to us. How we use the time is up to us. You may find that you have been doing activities that really don’t “pay off” much for you. I don’t read magazines anymore, used to read several each month. I still read a few real estate investing books and similar books, but maybe fewer each year than in my earlier days.
So, perhaps just a little self-examination and discussion with others about your personality and approaches may be all you need now.
Good InvestingRon Starr*******
Re: I need time!!! - Posted by Brent_IL
Posted by Brent_IL on May 01, 2002 at 15:56:42:
I?ve found that reaching goals is pretty simple, but my mind, stubbornness, and emotions make things appear more difficult, so I can avoid doing the things that I really don?t feel like doing.
To beat the time thing you need to allocate blocks of time to your CRE activities and make that time inviolable. Get input from your family and schedule it. Much of CREI is dependent upon our interacting with people. We need to make time to meet and speak to sellers, RE agents, buyers, bankers, birddogs, marketers, and lenders.
In our economy, virtually every American will go through a time of sacrifice. Often, the sacrifice is financial or involves deferring gratification. We can do it when we are young and healthy so that we are able to do the things we want to do later in life, or we can take the instant gratification route and postpone the period of sacrifice until we’re a senior citizen living on dog food. Somehow the concept that we have a choice is not readily understood when we are young.
It?s all about personal prioritization.
Let?s say the only possible time I had to contact others concerning CREI was in the morning before going to my job. The problem is that I commute for three hours to get to work. The solution is simple; move, and live closer to my job. I can find all kinds of reasons why this is not practical, but what I?m doing is simply postponing the sacrificial period again.
It?s a matter of setting priorities.
Re: I need time!!! - Posted by Andy (SC)
Posted by Andy (SC) on May 01, 2002 at 14:44:43:
Kevin,
I have a full time job, 2 kids, run and operate a window cleaning company on the side, coach my sons tee ball team and just finished my first rehab. I stay pretty busy. I also stay focused on the end result I want to come from all this. I will work my but off now while I am young in order to get out on my own. I am CREonline or reading books most of the time at 1 in the morning. Work hard when you work and play hard when you play. I will concentrate on fliping next time, until I am doing this full time. Doing the rehab got to be a little much. I sat down last night to watch a few hours of tv and I thought to myself, what a waste of my time. (I did enjot it). If I can cut out times like this and learn a few things a night then it shouldn’t take that long. I guess my advice would be to look at how you spend your time, and set your goals and priorities. I don’t know if this helps any.
Andy (SC)