You Can Afford Anything ... Just Not Everything. What's It Gonna Be?
The excellent, the normal, and the terrible. Two weeks ago, I saw them all.
I’d like to share the harrowing story. It’s a story of triumph, resilience, and late-night burritos. A story that immersed three days of my life — and is now over, chapter closed, with nothing else needed for at least another year.
It’s the story of three rental units:
Let’s start with the horror story first.
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Well hey, would you look at that!!
Money Magazine wrote a huge feature on my real estate investments. And they NAILED the headline. Damn.
I’m 34 Years Old and Own 8 Homes. Here’s How I Did It.
I’ve been writing about real estate investing since the beginning, and I never thought of a headline that clever! Whoa. I get the +1 for rental properties, and they get the +1 for headline-writing. 🙂
I’ve been reading Money Magazine for more than a decade; I’m thrilled to see myself get featured in it.
Seriously, check out this article.
And thank you for being along on this crazy, epic journey.
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By the way, the course Your First Rental Property is going to launch in the next few months. Join the VIP List to receive special updates about this upcoming course, which I’ve been constructing for two years.
Hey! I know you love numbers, so I’ll cut to the chase:
Last year, our rental properties earned $125,618.49 in gross income.
After expenses (including the mortgages), the properties netted $43,211.67.
This is our passive income from real estate in 2017. It’s the cash flow the properties put in our pocket last year.
And this is how we’ve reached financial independence through real estate.
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Hey there!
Just an update to let you know I’m still alive.
I know, I know … I’m a lazy bum who hasn’t published articles often. Sorry about that.
I tend to operate on “Paula Time.” It’s my own schedule, and it’s slooooow. #sooooslow
By some miracle, I created a new YouTube video in which I disclose my real estate income reports from April and May 2017. If you’re fascinated by real estate investing and/or weirdly into financial voyeurism, check out the latest income report here.
I have an ideal self, and a present self.
My ideal self exercises daily. She hikes or climbs at least twice a week. She eats plenty of vegetables.
She explores ideas that fascinate her. She reads one to two books a week, making copious notes and annotations throughout. Brilliant blog posts emerge as the natural, organic outcome of this practice.
My ideal self is a prolific writer. She’s developed such strong habits that her articles write themselves. Her fingertips move across the keyboard in a state of flow.
She doesn’t get stressed out about the fact that she’s not publishing articles (or finishing course modules) as quickly as she’d like. She’s patient with herself.
She has no attachment to outcome.
Some people are addicted to booze; others gambling.
Me? Home renovation.
Three months ago, we finished a $13,000 remodel on Rental House #4. To celebrate, we told our contractor to demolish a kitchen in a different house.
Call it a victory lap. 🙂
We’re renovating House #2, and we’re coordinating everything — from demolition to final clean-up — through email, phone and text messages.
We haven’t set foot on the property.
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Last month, one of our rental properties looked like this:
Today, the same property looks like this:
Renovating this rental property took three weeks, cost $13,648, and increased our rental income by $3,450 per year. We worked roughly 38 hours, spread across those three weeks.
Want to learn more about maximizing rental income through renovations? Read on.
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Let’s open the books … again.
Every month I reveal my income, expenses and bottom-line results from my real estate investments.
This month’s update is long overdue (it’s a 2-for-1!) because I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to write a deep-dive lesson to accompany this article.
I don’t want to merely publish numbers; I want to add insight like “how to hire a property manager” or “how to host an Open House.”
But writing these lessons takes time, and right now I’m focused on building the upcoming rental property investing course. So this month, there’s no accompanying lesson.
This update is just-the-facts. It’s a dose of financial voyeurism to spice up your workday. Here we go!
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Hey, I have a question for you.
You buy a rental property. Congrats. How long will it take before the property pays for itself?
“Uhhhh…. ??”
Okay. I thought so.
By the end of this article, you’ll know how to calculate this figure.
In the process, you’ll understand why the One Percent Rule matters … and how, and when, to use it.
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Last month, I pocketed $7,461.43 from my rental properties — after expenses — and spent 5.5 hours looking after these investments. That’s $1,356 per hour.
That story is below.
But before we dive into those details, I’d like to highlight one event that made last month special.
Nope, it’s not the income.
Nope, it’s not the weather.
It’s the fact that last month, I fired a sucky property manager. I hired another property manager to replace him.
I coordinated all of this from 2,000 miles away.
And it was much, much easier than I’d imagined.
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