Your first property to rent

It’s official: Kim and I moved from Portland to Corvallis, Oregon. At the end of August, we closed our home – a 1964 daylight ranch with a completely refurbished basement – and moved and unpacked for the past six weeks. I thought I would have time to post the bloody details of our purchase, but apparently that didn’t happen. We are too busy!

The short version is as follows: offered $ 128,000 on request at our dream home (and we’re still losing money) we’re close to joining another auction war for a similar house. But we didn’t. While others bid place on the street from $ 589,000 to $ 707,000, we snuck into a home we liked better, for $ 680,000 – only $ 5,000 over demand. We were lucky.

And while I was concerned that we might experience customer remorse, I’m happy to report that this absolutely didn’t happen. We love our home and we love Corvallis. How could you not?

Corvallis is the best cycling town in the state of Oregon. (Yes, even better than Portland.) Our home is not a paradise for walkers, but is within reach of two grocery stores and a few restaurants. Corvallis has almost no traffic jams. The city is surrounded by wooded foothills, full of hiking trails. We have squirrels and deer and wild turkeys in the yard every day. There are two dog parks without a leash nearby. Our neighbors are super friendly.

I could go on, but I won’t. You get the picture.

We had high expectations of Corvallis, but the city has so far exceeded them. I’m not kidding. That is exactly what Kim and I were looking for during our three-month search for a new place to stay. It’s ours Stars Hollow.

And our home, though huge for two people, also exceeded our expectations. Sometimes it feels like it was made to measure for the two of us and our lifestyle. I know it’s still early days, but after six weeks we’re happy.

A small real estate empire

Kim and I also like that we have already started building friendships in the city. I’ve spent some time with Jeff since Happy philosopher, for example, and Kim does weekly dog ​​walks with one of the neighbors. Last weekend we enjoyed happy hours with our real estate agent and his wife.

Michael and Rae have lived in Corvallis for perhaps ten or twelve years. It was then that they came across the idea of ​​“financial freedom” without ever discovering the growing FIRE movement. (FIRE is an awkward abbreviation for »financial independence and early retirement. ”) Like many others who eventually find FIRE, these two invented their own version in a vacuum.

Michael and Rae are slowly building a small real estate empire that currently comprises six homes. They will buy the space, live in it with improvements, then rent it out when they are ready to buy another property. Their goal, approaching it, is for the cash flow from rents to cover their monthly expenses.

Last week with cocktails and appetizers at Magenta, Kim and Michael and Rae regretted their experience.

“Now that we’ve settled here in Corvallis, we’ve started talking about the idea of ​​buying real estate for rent ourselves,” I said.

“I just turned 49,” Kim said. “My years as a dental hygienist are starting to take their toll. My back hurts. My shoulder hurts. My wrist hurts. I want to find a way to make money without killing myself. “

Michael nodded. “We’re happy to share what we know,” he said. “But you have to understand that this is not some magical path to wealth. This is work. It may not be the same job as it is now, but it is work. And it takes time to build an income stream. “

“I understand,” Kim said. “I understand. Sounds like you figured that out. Didn’t you tell us you only broadcast to students? And that they come back year after year?”

“We don’t broadcast only students, ”Rae said,“ but these are mostly students. Currently, one of our six homes is rented to a “normal” family. But you’re right. We were lucky to have a low turnover of tenants. “

“We strive to maintain long-term relationships with our tenants,” Michael said. “We don’t want to be their friends, but we want to have good communication. We want them to come back every school year. Often this means that we do not raise their rent. Or when we do, it’s a very small increase. “

“That’s smart,” Kim said. “It makes your tenants more loyal and prevents traffic. The traffic is probably heavy. “

“It is,” Michael agreed. “We’d rather keep our tenants at rents that are slightly lower than the market rents than to deal with traffic every year. When someone moves out, we can move things to suit the market. In addition, building strong relationships with our tenants seems to help maintain motivation to care for the space. in We begin to notice that it helps when their siblings come to school in Corvallis. They get in touch with us because their brother or sister has a good experience with us. ”

“I like your ethical approach,” I said. “And when I listen to you talk about it, I want to know more about investing in real estate.”

‘You I know I want to learn about it, ”Kim said. “I’ve been saying that for years.” (Yes!)

“You know,” I said, “a lot of my colleagues are into real estate investing. I talked to them about it, even though I never dealt with it for myself. Do you read any of the real estate blogs? “

“Not really,” Michael said. “I know Paulo Pant at Treat yourself to anything, though. I like her stuff. “

“Paulo and I are good friends,” I said. “We’ve been close since 2012 and we often call or write to make up for life. In fact, we hung out last week in Fincon, Austin. She asked me to help promote her real estate course. “

“You should do it,” Michael said. “I haven’t seen the course, but it has solid information on its website.”

I thought for a moment.

“You know what I do I should do, “I said.” Pauli should help promote the course, of course, but more than that he should take the course for himself. He should take both me they can learn about investing in real estate. “

“Yes, I should,” Michael said. “Not that I have a hidden motive to buy more real estate.” We all laughed at that.

“You know what would help?” I said. “Whenever a rental property comes on the market, you send a video that analyzes its potential. I adore them, even though I don’t fully understand everything you’re talking about. I especially like the spreadsheet you use to crush numbers. “

“It’s not surprising,” Kim said.

“Would you be willing to record a video on YouTube explaining a spreadsheet of your rental property?” I asked. “I could also play with this spreadsheet on my own while attending Paulin’s course at the same time.”

“You know that!” Michael said. “I’ll make a video for you next week.” And that’s exactly what he did. Here Michael explains a spreadsheet that he uses to review potential rental properties.

Your first property to rent

I recently read Todd Tresidder How much money do I need to retire? Maybe I’ll write a full review of the book someday. The key thing to understand at this point is that Todd thinks it’s a bit risky to use four percent rule as a measure of financial freedom. He makes a compelling argument that it is much safer to define financial independence the way Vicki Robin does in Your money or your life: that point where your passive income exceeds your expenses.

While my recent move to Corvallis led me to become financially independent again, if defined in terms of the four percent rule, I no financially independent based on cash flow. My expenses exceed my passive income. I would like to change that. And I think renting real estate could be part of the strategy for that.

I signed up this morning Your first property to rent, real estate course Paule Pant. Reading the sales copy on the landing page was fun. I generally hate sales pages, but it was as if Paula was writing this with me in mind. Sounds like the course is perfect for my needs.

It helps, I think I know Paulo personally. We’ve talked to her a lot over the years about her various real estate adventures. I watched her slowly build her rental portfolio. Besides, I know she’s smart and trustworthy at the same time. If I’m going to pay anyone for a real estate course, it’s Paula.

I also like Chad Carson and I trust him. Coach Carson Real Estate Courses would also be a good option and I might actually see them in the future.

Here’s the thing. I get a a lot book promotion requirements and courses and events here at Get Rich Slowly. I almost always refuse. I never wanted this to be a product promotion platform. I want the GRS to be an education platform.

Nevertheless, I enjoy sharing books and events that I believe you will find valuable. That’s why I’m excited about Ramit Sethi I will teach you to be rich. So I personally participated this year’s EconoMe conference, and why I invite others to join us next month in Cincinnati. Some of these things are great and should be shared.

Obviously I can’t guarantee the quality yet Your first property to rent, but I just spent my money to buy it. (Did you mean to buy the course? ”Pauline’s assistant emailed me.“ Yes, ”I said.“ I want to attend. ”) I’ll ask Kim if she wants to take the course together. I think it would be fun to work as a couple!

And who knows? Maybe in a few years we will acquire some of our own real estate for rent …

Your first property to rent, like many online courses, has a limited availability period. (I think Paula only offers it once a year.) Sales for this cohort end on October 14th. Get Rich Slowly earns a commission for every sale through our site.