| Copyright 2005-2007 All Rights Reserved Charles E. Marunde & FreeRealEstateLaw.com |
| Real Estate Investing Success Stories |
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Success Story #1.
I met Joe at a local Starbucks. He had gotten my name from some
friends in the real estate business, and he had some questions about
entities and asset protection for his real estate investments. He was
enlisted in the Army and had two years until retirement, although he was
only about 37. He started investing about five years earlier on his own,
and now has a monthly net rental income of $14,000. Not bad. He saved
his money wisely while he worked all those years, and he had money to
invest. He looked for good deals, bought them, and did a little rehab.
That's it. Great story because it's so simple. Notice there is no
nonsense, no zero money down claims, just hard work.
Success Story #2.
I met Pete through an associate, and we also met at Starbucks. Pete
started investing in real estate, single family only, about 7 years prior. He
only bought. Never sold. He always bought good, meaning he always
tried to pick up equity in various ways. He always did some rehab and
cosmetics, and rented to reliable tenants. He lives in a beautiful house,
sits in his jacuzzi, and has a net annual income exceeding $250,000. He
buys all his houses with cash, and is in a very tough market, King County.
One house he showed me was a 70s style rancher. It had a
mother-in-law apartment in the back with a garage conversion that was
not permitted. He got it for a reasonable price, immediately got approval
to divide the parcel into two parcels, at which time he told me the fair
market value jumped $100,000. He did some cosmetic work, new carpet
and paint in the house, and picked up another $30,000 in value. He
never sells, but if he had, he would have made an immediate profit of
$130,000. His cash flow was positive right away.
Success Story #3.
Jack is a professional who has slowly bought single family rentals for
about 15 years, and his net rental income is almost 10 times his
professional income now. Why doesn't he just quit his day job? He says
he likes it.
Success Story #4.
Tom never went to college. Started out as a carpenter, and eventually
took a huge leap to do some of his own contracting, first with small rehab
work, then garages and add-ons, and finally after a few years of that, he
built his first house for a customer. Today, he has built maybe a hundred
homes, and is considered a quality builder of custom homes. He owns
several homes himself, because he feels real estate is the best
investment for his retirement. He prefers single family residential.
Success Story #5.
Jerry and Jennifer started investing in real estate to get away from their
own careers, which they had grown to dislike. Today they are full time
investors, and quite happy. They had to learn in the school of hard
knocks (who doesn't?), but they are now on very solid ground in
everything they do. They started with small single family and later got
into small apartments and now are making money in building and selling
condos.
Success Story #6.
Selena and Thomas are the kind of people you just fall in love with.
Although they are fairly young in their 40's, they are worth a net of more
than $10 million dollars. They've been investing for about 17 years, and
have many rentals, including small apartment complexes. There is one
drawback in this story. They are always in trouble. As soon as they have
one fire put out, there is another fire springing up elsewhere. They
spend a lot on attorney's fees, not to mention the stress.
Success Story #7.
Elma retired many years ago. Her husband had been a builder, and he
died in his fifties. She was able to live off the monthly payments from the
contracts on the houses they had sold. That worked out well for many
years, but eventually those payments ended when the 20 and 30 year
amortization periods came to a close. Her other primary income was from
interest income, but with the balance of her savings in investments at a
time when interest rates plummeted, this income dropped drastically. On
top of that, she made a poor investment with someone she trusted and
lost those funds. Health care costs continued to climb, and she now lives
as cheaply as possible in a small manufactured home. Although this is a
success story of investing in real estate, it also has some lessons on
what not to do. While investing in paper or collecting on sales contracts
can be good investments, it does seem obvious that owning and renting
for the long run is better by far. When you own a house and rent it, the
mortgage balance gets smaller while the FMV of the property continues
to increase, multiplying the growth in equity nicely. Another great benefit
of owning and renting is that rent continues to go up. The increase in
rent has generally kept pace with inflation, and then some. Rental
income makes a great retirement plan.
I met Joe at a local Starbucks. He had gotten my name from some
friends in the real estate business, and he had some questions about
entities and asset protection for his real estate investments. He was
enlisted in the Army and had two years until retirement, although he was
only about 37. He started investing about five years earlier on his own,
and now has a monthly net rental income of $14,000. Not bad. He saved
his money wisely while he worked all those years, and he had money to
invest. He looked for good deals, bought them, and did a little rehab.
That's it. Great story because it's so simple. Notice there is no
nonsense, no zero money down claims, just hard work.
Success Story #2.
I met Pete through an associate, and we also met at Starbucks. Pete
started investing in real estate, single family only, about 7 years prior. He
only bought. Never sold. He always bought good, meaning he always
tried to pick up equity in various ways. He always did some rehab and
cosmetics, and rented to reliable tenants. He lives in a beautiful house,
sits in his jacuzzi, and has a net annual income exceeding $250,000. He
buys all his houses with cash, and is in a very tough market, King County.
One house he showed me was a 70s style rancher. It had a
mother-in-law apartment in the back with a garage conversion that was
not permitted. He got it for a reasonable price, immediately got approval
to divide the parcel into two parcels, at which time he told me the fair
market value jumped $100,000. He did some cosmetic work, new carpet
and paint in the house, and picked up another $30,000 in value. He
never sells, but if he had, he would have made an immediate profit of
$130,000. His cash flow was positive right away.
Success Story #3.
Jack is a professional who has slowly bought single family rentals for
about 15 years, and his net rental income is almost 10 times his
professional income now. Why doesn't he just quit his day job? He says
he likes it.
Success Story #4.
Tom never went to college. Started out as a carpenter, and eventually
took a huge leap to do some of his own contracting, first with small rehab
work, then garages and add-ons, and finally after a few years of that, he
built his first house for a customer. Today, he has built maybe a hundred
homes, and is considered a quality builder of custom homes. He owns
several homes himself, because he feels real estate is the best
investment for his retirement. He prefers single family residential.
Success Story #5.
Jerry and Jennifer started investing in real estate to get away from their
own careers, which they had grown to dislike. Today they are full time
investors, and quite happy. They had to learn in the school of hard
knocks (who doesn't?), but they are now on very solid ground in
everything they do. They started with small single family and later got
into small apartments and now are making money in building and selling
condos.
Success Story #6.
Selena and Thomas are the kind of people you just fall in love with.
Although they are fairly young in their 40's, they are worth a net of more
than $10 million dollars. They've been investing for about 17 years, and
have many rentals, including small apartment complexes. There is one
drawback in this story. They are always in trouble. As soon as they have
one fire put out, there is another fire springing up elsewhere. They
spend a lot on attorney's fees, not to mention the stress.
Success Story #7.
Elma retired many years ago. Her husband had been a builder, and he
died in his fifties. She was able to live off the monthly payments from the
contracts on the houses they had sold. That worked out well for many
years, but eventually those payments ended when the 20 and 30 year
amortization periods came to a close. Her other primary income was from
interest income, but with the balance of her savings in investments at a
time when interest rates plummeted, this income dropped drastically. On
top of that, she made a poor investment with someone she trusted and
lost those funds. Health care costs continued to climb, and she now lives
as cheaply as possible in a small manufactured home. Although this is a
success story of investing in real estate, it also has some lessons on
what not to do. While investing in paper or collecting on sales contracts
can be good investments, it does seem obvious that owning and renting
for the long run is better by far. When you own a house and rent it, the
mortgage balance gets smaller while the FMV of the property continues
to increase, multiplying the growth in equity nicely. Another great benefit
of owning and renting is that rent continues to go up. The increase in
rent has generally kept pace with inflation, and then some. Rental
income makes a great retirement plan.
| It's interesting to note that none of these people are "no money down" investors. Each of them have done it using solid investing principles and real money. |
| It's also interesting to note that everyone develops their own niche. As investors get more experience, they tend to move into a specialized area in real estate and away from others. |
| More stories to come. Have a success story yourself. Email it to me, and I'll use it. Make it short and to the point. Make it long if you want, and I'll cut it down. |
You won't see many
stories here of the
zero down, get rick
quick type. Those are
kind of rare in real life.
These stories are true
stories of average
people who actually
became successful real
estate investors, and
most of them are what
you would consider
financially free.
Beware of the real
estate gurus that come
through town every
year or two and
preach getting rick
quick with no money
down. They are the
ones who are actually
getting the money
quick--yours.
stories here of the
zero down, get rick
quick type. Those are
kind of rare in real life.
These stories are true
stories of average
people who actually
became successful real
estate investors, and
most of them are what
you would consider
financially free.
Beware of the real
estate gurus that come
through town every
year or two and
preach getting rick
quick with no money
down. They are the
ones who are actually
getting the money
quick--yours.