Post Your Wins

[james.hendrickson]

I totally went Whole Foods over the Labor Day weekend and got some groceries on sale. In particular I got a bottle of lemonade for 1 dollar - it regularly goes for $2.69. I love getting good quality stuff for 60% off.

[GoodSteward]

Absolutely!

Someone point me to another investment where I can invest $30,000 and walk away with $104,000 in 10 years. That's the power of leverage.

Thank you. Does this happen every time, or have you lost trying to do this also? I get mixed results when I ask about this. Some say they lost money renting, and some say they do well. I guess this is actually another topic, but I would like to know how to rent out responsibly.

[GoodSteward]

I heard the gift card wins and was reminded about a win. A few years ago I went to the local Dairy Queen one weekend when they had a customer appreciation day with everything 1/2 off. They had a box there to sign up for a free 50$ DQ card. A week later I got a call saying I had won. I had never won something like that, so I was really excited.

[DaveInPgh]

They had a box there to sign up for a free 50$ DQ card. A week later I got a call saying I had won.

This gets my vote for the Best Win

[TexasHusker]

Thank you. Does this happen every time, or have you lost trying to do this also? I get mixed results when I ask about this. Some say they lost money renting, and some say they do well. I guess this is actually another topic, but I would like to know how to rent out responsibly.

If you choose your property well, you can't miss, even if you buy at absolutely the wrong time.

Case in point: I invested $70,000 on a $240,000 vacation home rental in 2005 at near the height of the real estate bubble. After all expenses (utilities, repairs, insurance, mortgage, and taxes), my yearly net rent since 2005 has been about $10,000. So I've received $110,000 in income from a $75,000 investment. And the vacationers have paid down about $35,000 of my $180,000 original note.

Those two combined, I've received $145,000 back from my investment of $70,000, and the money keeps coming in.

Now, the value of the property went down to less than $200K for a few years, but that just downgraded the investment from terrific to really good, since the $$$ rent keeps coming in.

As of now, it's worth about $275K, but I'm not worried about the value - I'm only worried about the income!

I have a very similar property that I am STILL $30K upside down on in terms of value, but it is also pumping out $10,000 a year net income to me - has been for 6 years now. And the renters have paid down about $15K of the note, so I've gotten back about $75K so far on a $60K-ish total investment. That's a full refund plus $15,000 in 6 years !

This puts all the stock market and mutual funds b.s. to shame.

In fact, when I left my employer 4 years ago, I cashed completely out of my 401K with a $400K balance - paying all penalties and taxes - so I could buy my last two properties - which have been producing a net $30K a year net income to me ever since (no mortgage on these)

An Edward Jones rep asked me the other day "but why aren't you saving for retirement?" He never clued in.

[james.hendrickson]

I heard the gift card wins and was reminded about a win. A few years ago I went to the local Dairy Queen one weekend when they had a customer appreciation day with everything 1/2 off. They had a box there to sign up for a free 50$ DQ card. A week later I got a call saying I had won. I had never won something like that, so I was really excited.

Yes...the DQ win has my vote for best win also.

FYI, you can 6% - 12% off dairy queen gift cards if you get them on gift card granny. Never pay full retail.

[GoodSteward]

Yes...the DQ win has my vote for best win also.

FYI, you can 6% - 12% off dairy queen gift cards if you get them on gift card granny. Never pay full retail.

Of all my internet searching and frugality, I had never heard of buying discount gift cards until I ran across Disneysteve's thread on it. I think the idea is awesome. I have yet to find a need, but I keep it in mind. I'm sure this will come in handy for the holidays.

[GoodSteward]

If you choose your property well, you can't miss, even if you buy at absolutely the wrong time.

Thanks for the info! The house I"m in right now I've considered renting if I ever get a change to move closer to the church I pastor. I owe just over 70k and it's valued around 100k. I have family who all tell me not to rent, but I don't want to get rid of the house and I know one day it will be paid off and be a steady income.

I asked my previous employer about investing and retirement. He referenced the owner of our company and said he invests into real estate. Now the owner had cash too as he was a millionaire, but as far as "investing" I believe he just used rentals. My boss said when the stock market went down in recession everybody was losing money, but people still had to pay rent. That 600$ a month rent payment didn't go down. That made a ton of sense to me.

[TexasHusker]

Thanks for the info! The house I"m in right now I've considered renting if I ever get a change to move closer to the church I pastor. I owe just over 70k and it's valued around 100k. I have family who all tell me not to rent, but I don't want to get rid of the house and I know one day it will be paid off and be a steady income.

I asked my previous employer about investing and retirement. He referenced the owner of our company and said he invests into real estate. Now the owner had cash too as he was a millionaire, but as far as "investing" I believe he just used rentals. My boss said when the stock market went down in recession everybody was losing money, but people still had to pay rent. That 600$ a month rent payment didn't go down. That made a ton of sense to me.

It's not all rosy, but real estate investing in its various forms is the best way to financial independence IMO. Viatical settlements investing is another good way to go.

[DaveInPgh]

Thanks for the info! The house I"m in right now I've considered renting if I ever get a change to move closer to the church I pastor. I owe just over 70k and it's valued around 100k. I have family who all tell me not to rent, but I don't want to get rid of the house and I know one day it will be paid off and be a steady income.

I asked my previous employer about investing and retirement. He referenced the owner of our company and said he invests into real estate. Now the owner had cash too as he was a millionaire, but as far as "investing" I believe he just used rentals. My boss said when the stock market went down in recession everybody was losing money, but people still had to pay rent. That 600$ a month rent payment didn't go down. That made a ton of sense to me.

I have posted this a couple times but not sure anyone decided to check it out, but www.biggerpockets.com is by far the best online community for real estate discussion that I have come across. I rarely visit the site anymore because I have too much going on to seriously consider real estate investing, but I found the site to be very helpful when I was trying to learn more about the investing aspect of RE. Not an affiliate link and I have no connection to the site other than just thinking it is a great resource.

[disneysteve]

Of all my internet searching and frugality, I had never heard of buying discount gift cards until I ran across Disneysteve's thread on it. I think the idea is awesome. I have yet to find a need

You might want to look a little harder. GiftCardGranny currently lists cards from over 1,000 places. Surely there is somewhere on that list that you go to on some regular basis. I buy cards for Target, JoAnn Fabric, and Speedway gas stations regularly. I occasionally buy an iTunes card for DD when she needs to replenish her account. Same for Starbucks (there's one on campus). If I know in advance that we'll be shopping for something particular at a place like Home Depot or Best Buy or wherever, I'll grab a card for that. I'll order a theater card if I know we're going to the movies. We're not big on chain restaurants but will occasionally pick up a card for a place I know we'll get to.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Selling a couple of items like an old netbook and old scanner for $30 and $20. Just getting rid of stuff. This week I disposed of 130 items and 9 more today. 6 of them to the consignment store which donates what they don't sell. So win-win. Either I make money or I get a donation and feel better decluttering.

[FLA]

I have had mostly losses with big medical bills and a huge drop in income when I went on disability. So it was a giant win for me when my IRA portfolio increased back up to $500,000 in this market. I need to make that money last a very long time so moving in the right direction gives me hope.

[TexasHusker]

I have had mostly losses with big medical bills and a huge drop in income when I went on disability. So it was a giant win for me when my IRA portfolio increased back up to $500,000 in this market. I need to make that money last a very long time so moving in the right direction gives me hope.

You could flip that into about $40K a year right now if you wanted to.

[FLA]

You could flip that into about $40K a year right now if you wanted to.

my goal is not to touch it until retirement age, I am pretty sure this isn't feasible but I'm really gonna try