This is my 50th year of investing in real estate . It seems impossible , but it is true . I have invested in almost every type of real estate , but I have concentrated primarily on the SingleFamily Home as a longterm store of value . I bought my first rental house in 1969 . It was a twobedroom , onebath ranch with a onecar detached garage . I was in college and rented the house to other college students . Four of them lived in an 800 square foot box .
It took my life ’ s savings , $ 800 as the down payment . I assumed a Veteran ’ s fixedrate , 30year loan with 26 years left on the amortization . Back in that day , anyone could assume a VA loan for a $ 35 fee .
By the time I graduated from college , I owned three rental houses . Upon graduation , I went to work for an insurance company that needed a small office to rent . I used the equity in the rental houses to fund the down payment for a small office building and rented it to the insurance company for which I worked .
My wife and I married right out of college . We both had jobs to pay for our living expenses . This freed up the positive cash flow from the rental houses to accumulate another down payment to buy another rental house .
We did this for 20 years before ever taking a dime out of our investments . Every dollar of positive cash flow was reinvested in more houses . Was that easy to do ? NO ! There were many temptations along the way . A new car would have been nice , maybe a motorcycle , or how about an expensive vacation ?
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
We lived well and enjoyed those 20 years , raising two daughters . But we did not live beyond our means . We lived BELOW OUR MEANS .
Who does this in America today ? Not many . It is a foreign concept to most Americans , but it really is true that if you live below your means and invest for the long term , your future will be bright . You do not have to be brilliant , cunning , dishonest , or a trust fund baby to be successful . All you must do is work hard , uphold your commitments , build an honest reputation , and keep your “ nose to the grindstone .”
" We lived well and enjoyed those 20 years , raising two daughters . But we did not live beyond our means . We lived BELOW OUR MEANS ."
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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