I have mentioned from time to time that I'm making 10% back on money ($125k so far) I've loaned to a friend who's buying real estate. Some of you more perceptive (and interested) readers have picked up on this and sent me notes. Here's an example of one I received recently: From reading your money blog I see that one of your income streams comes from lending money to a … [Read more...]
The Pros, Cons, and Alternatives of a 1031 Exchange
I have been considering various options for my real estate investments. My preference would be to buy more rental units, but both markets I'd consider (where my current places are in Grand Rapids, Michigan or my current city of Colorado Springs) are waaaaaaay over-priced IMO. And I'm more of a value buyer when it comes to real estate. I could just call it quits and sell … [Read more...]
Looking at Real Estate and the Parade of Homes
I LOVE looking at real estate. Many people consider it boring, but to me there are so many decisions to be made in making a great house, and so much creativity tied up into it, that I just love it. In fact, if I had to start my life over again I would choose a career in real estate. But that's for another post. Because of this love, over the years I have spent a … [Read more...]
Seven Ways to Invest in Real Estate to Get Across the Retirement Finish Line
As regular readers know, I'm a big fan of real estate investing. For those who don't know, you can get caught up by reading why I got started in real estate, how my real estate investing plan came into being, and the results I've had from real estate investing. The summary: It's been awesome and I wish I had bought more when I had the chance! I've been thinking about … [Read more...]
What You Need to Know about Fundrise and DiversyFund
As you probably know, I'm a big fan of real estate investing. I currently own three properties with five buildings and a total of 14 units. We purchased them when we lived in Michigan a few years after the real estate meltdown of 2007-2009 and as a result we got them at great prices. As such, they churn off a good amount of income plus have appreciated quite nicely. I … [Read more...]
Retirement Housing Decisions
For the vast majority of my life, where I lived was decided for me by one factor or another. Initially, wherever my parents lived, I lived. Then it was school. The colleges I went to (undergrad and grad) were in specific cities/areas I had to live in. And finally, there was my career. Of course I could choose who to work for, but if I picked the employers I did, then I … [Read more...]
How We House-Hacked Our Way into a Bigger Down Payment Fund
In my series How to Go from Zero to Millionaire I detailed what I would have done differently if I could go back in time and re-do some of my major money moves. One thing I forget to mention in that list was to do at least one (maybe more) house hack. That's why I loved the guest post Five Tips for Growing Wealth Through House Hacking! It gave all the details about how to … [Read more...]
Being Diligent with Home Security
If you belong to Next Door, the "private social network for your neighborhood community", you know two things... 1. Very few humans can contain their pets. 2. Your neighborhood is full of criminal activity. Let me elaborate a bit... Lost Dog/Cat/Whatever Almost daily there's a post on Next Door that someone has lost a pet in our neighborhood. We must live in … [Read more...]
Five Tips for Growing Wealth Through House Hacking
When I wrote How to Go from Zero to Millionaire I detailed what I would have done differently financially if I had to do it all over again. But after some time and thought, I realized there are a couple things missing even from that re-writing of history. One of them: I would have gotten into house hacking. Many of you have probably heard of house hacking, but for those … [Read more...]
Crowdfunding Real Estate Investment Options
As you might imagine, I get a lot of questions here at ESI Money. I can't possibly respond to them all (hey, I'm retired and want some free time!), but when I see the same question over and over again, I usually do one of two things... I either write a post about it if I'm familiar and/or experienced with the issue or ask someone who is familiar/experienced with it to … [Read more...]
