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in Financial Independence | Retire Early · November 2, 2020

Trust the Process – Wealth is not Built Overnight.

Undeniably, the path to financial independence can be a bit overwhelming. If you are coming from having tons of debt. It probably feels like a far away reality to the point that you start doubting if it is even worth it or possible for you.

I’ve been in debt for as long as I can remember. I’ve been busting my ass for years trying to get out of debt and get myself in the right track. It was only until this year that I started to see the light, but trust me, it’s been a ride.

Currently Ryan and I have $1M in debt among all of our properties and personal debt, including our primary residence. It looks like a ridiculously high amount of debt now and definitely doesn’t sound like we are on track to retire any time soon. However, we must trust the journey. As rentals payments come in, this debt amount will lower. Every year, the gap between what we own and what we owe will increase taking us a step closer to financial independence.

I won’t lie, there are days where I doubt our whole approach. As I have mentioned on my previous posts, we started our real estate investing journey with zero money of our own. We are in so much debt and the cash flow from the properties seems like pennies compared to the debt. We’ve taken the high risk route and we have a lot of moving pieces to our strategy. Even though we have some diversification, most of our wealth building strategy is in real estate. We have $1.2M worth of real estate investment which sounds better than it really is. Subtract the $1.1M in debt and it isn’t as much. All that work we put in and the numbers are not as impressive. However, considering that we started with nothing, 100k increase is progress. This increase in net worth is just based on the increase of the value of the properties as a result of our renovations. It is not liquid meaning that we can’t just go online and withdraw. We would have to sell in order to access this “wealth”. So, why don’t we just invest in the stock market and let it grow rather than risk not being able to quickly get access to this money when needed? The thing is that we are in the real estate business for the long run. We are buying properties without having money of our own, increasing the value of those properties and building wealth in the process. One day, we’ll have all mortgages paid off, live off the rental income and/or sell and live off the sale proceeds.

If we had waited until we had all the money or any money for that matter, we probably would have 1 house and that’s it. It doesn’t really make sense to invest in the stock market using debt, so there is that. Our tenants are helping us pay off the mortgages and eventually, the work will pay off. We started with nothing and now we have built some wealth from the appreciation of the properties. It just takes time, some work and faith.

Having a long-term goal of what we want to accomplish is what keeps us going. We just need to trust the process. The routes we take, and the plans we make may change with time, but the end goal is still the same, be financially independent by any (legal) means possible. Even if it takes longer, it will happen because it is what we truly desire.

We just have to trust ourselves and not get desperate.

If you are struggling financially and don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, keep going. Trust that you will find the way. YOUR way. Sometimes you’d have to take 2 steps back in order to take 5 steps forward. It may not feel like progress, but no matter how insignificant it may seem, progress is still progress! Don’t give up!

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New Blog Post 🚨 In this week’s blog post I am New Blog Post 🚨 In this week’s blog post I am going over why we bought a short-term rental, our experience so far. Plus what we did prior, during and after purchasing our first short-term rental in March 2022, a Cabin in Blue Ridge, GA.

Check it out at www.beyondjustnumbers.com or link in bio @beyondjustnumbers
I can’t stress this enough. Some investors are l I can’t stress this enough. Some investors are looking to make money from day one, but that’s not always the case. It wasn’t for us and I’ve talked to a lot of rookie investors who have told me “Thank God I have my personal finance situation together.” 

This is just my opinion. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments!

Want to join a free community of like-minded individuals? Join our REI Coffee Chat Community where we talk real estate investing, personal finance and financial freedom, and much more! Link in bio @beyondjustnumbers

Want to learn more about investing in real estate? Read my blog www.beyondjustnumbers.com

#realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #creativefinancing #investmentproperty #buyrealestate #firemovement #debtfreejourney #financialindependenceretireearly #rentalproperty #investinginproperty #personalfinanceblog #wealthbuilding #planforretirement #investorlife #livefree #airbnb #moneyisfreedom #enjoythejourney #reicommunity #realestateinvestments #shortermrentals #cashflow #realestate
I used to think that investing in real estate was I used to think that investing in real estate was for the rich. I became in love with real estate while working for a real estate investment company that owned hundreds of units. This was back in 2011 and I was 20 years old at the time. I had less than 5 years permanently living the US, so I had no idea about anything. I grew up in Colombia and the only talk of money we ever had was the lack of it. 

The investors I worked for were a wealthy family, so naturally, I thought… Real Estate requires wealth. I don’t have wealth. Therefore, I cannot invest. 

I figured… well shit, I need become wealthy so I can invest in real estate. Eventually, after educating myself I realized how wrong I had it. You can build wealth BY INVESTING in real estate.

Took me a couple of years to figure it all out. Hence, why I didn’t start investing until 2019. I wish I had figured out earlier, but it is what it is. In just 3 years of investing in real estate, I was able to accumulate more wealth than I ever thought possible. 

Just to give you an idea…Did you know you could invest in real estate with as little at 3.5% of the purchase price? For a $150,000, that’s only $5,750. Buy a duplex that needs a little bit of work, fix it up, rent one side and live in the other. This will reduce your monthly expenses significantly, save the money and do it all over again.*

Of course it’s not that simple, but it’s also not that difficult. There are some particular steps and considerations which is  why I recommend doing further reading on the subject. 

Book Recommendation:
✅“The House Hacking Strategy” by Craig Curelop and ✅“Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down” by Brandon Turner. 

#realestate #realestateinvesting
🚨 New Blog Post! Continuing the “Getting Star 🚨 New Blog Post! Continuing the “Getting Started in Real Estate Series” 

You’ve found a property either on your own or through a realtor, you’ve run your numbers, you’ve got a lender and now you are ready to make an offer. What’s next?

In this post I want to discuss a few items:

✅Key components of a real estate contract
✅How do you make a compelling offer to ensure you get the property you want
✅The main contract contingencies and how they work
✅Communicating with your realtor

I also provide real examples of what we have done personally. 

Check it out at www.beyondjustnumbers.com

Let me know what you think!
If I listed all of the hats, I’d never end 😂. If I listed all of the hats, I’d never end 😂. Anyone else? Show me the multiple hats you wear and tag me. Let’s have fun with some reels.

Trying to get good at the real game like @investinginyourwealth. How did I do?
The fact that you are not where you want to be doe The fact that you are not where you want to be doesn’t mean you won’t get there. Greatness takes time. Focus on what you control.

And remember, it’s okay to pivot.

#mindset #realestate #firemovement #realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #rentalpropertyinvestor #rentalproperty #cashflow #motivation #financialfreedom #financialindependence #financialindependenceretireearly
We see a lot of advice around hiring a real estate We see a lot of advice around hiring a real estate friendly CPA. However, when you look up  CPAs that specialize in real estate, they can be pricey.  However, that doesn’t mean that other CPAs or tax professionals aren’t good. They might not be particularly aware of certain items, but they can research and collaborate with theirs peers. Perhaps it may require you to do a little of work to compensate. Things you can do:
✅ listen to The Real Estate CPA podcast or join the Facebook group
✅follow social media accounts of the pricey Real Estate CPA and take notes of what they are saying
✅attend free educational events 
✅read BiggerPocket book on Real Estate taxes 
✅if you know anyone working with a really good Real Estate CPA firm, ask them what they are doing

Then use that to go your CPA or tax professional and be like “Hey, is this something we can do for me?” They’ll probably say, “Let me look into it”. 

If they are good, they are going to research it and/or ask their CPA peer group. (CPAs and tax preparers also have Facebook groups where they collaborate with each other).

Here is a piece of advice, if they tell you “No, we can’t use this loophole or no, you don’t qualify to use this strategy” —> Ask WHY and “How can I qualify in the future?.” This way you confirm they did their homework and aren’t just being lazy. Don’t just take no for an answer. You can then get a second opinion by asking a question in a forum or to your peers.

So don’t panic if you don’t have a real estate CPA or tax professional. 

Next video I’ll be answering the question… “Can I skip the tax professional altogether and do my own taxes?”

#realestate
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