Part-time Real Estate Investing for Full-Time Professionals: Upgrade your mindset, portfolio and finances in less than a year while working by Derek Clifford

Part-time Real Estate Investing for Full-Time Professionals: Upgrade your mindset, portfolio and finances in less than a year while working by Derek Clifford

CHAPTER 1
LEGO BLOCKS AND MYSTORY
“Don’t wait to buy real estate. Buy real estate and wait.” —Robert Allen
NOW THAT WE see there is a problem with the current status quo, I am
determined to demonstrate to you how I’m freeing myself of long days in the
office for a life of choice and self-determination. It is possible to do this in a
relatively short time to create a cash flow portfolio that runs on its own.
From a 1,000 foot perspective, the goal is to have your portfolio run with
minimal involvement on a day-to-day basis. If done correctly, it should take
only 15-20 minutes per month. Before we learn more about stacking LEGO
blocks to make this work, I’ll share my story about how I got here, starting
around five years ago in the mid 2010’s.
Preparation & SelfGratification
My wife and I started our investing career like many investors before us.
Completely by accident.
She had purchased a condo in the Pacific Northwest one month before the
huge real estate crash in 2008. When she finished medical school and looked
to move to California to start her residency, the condo was still underwater and
we couldn’t sell in 2013. Out of options, we were forced to rent it to graduate
students. ese renters spoiled us because we didn’t even need a property
manager with them. We treated them well and they treated us nicely in return.
We got used to the income coming in, which covered the mortgage and more.
During our move to California, it got my gears turning. “Huh…” I thought to
myself. “Why don’t we get more of these?”
When I started off, my first goal was to get educated. I wanted to replicate this
with the intention of rental property from the start. I listened to podcasts from
Bigger Pockets and picked up countless books on the subject. Eventually the
dreaded “analysis paralysis” settled in. It turned out real estate investing is
insanely broad.
What resonated with me, and my “landlord-by-default” situation the most,
was the LEGO block method of real estate investing, otherwise known as buy
and hold. Just like purchasing dividend returning stock, buy and hold real
estate is exactly as it sounds. You buy real estate, benefit from holding, and sell
at an increased value later on. I loved the idea of accumulating LEGO blocks
to build a foundation for my life of choice. Other forms of investing, such as
flips and wholesaling, seemed like another full-time job to me.
We realized we were spending too much time analyzing and trying to find the
perfect “deal” in my local market. It took some time, but we understood what
really mattered: taking action. Shifting our focus from trying to hit a home run
on our first purchase to learning and gaining skills and experience was the key.
is took the pressure off us and we were able to purchase a property swiftly
and logically.
TakingthePlunge
Some laminate flooring, trim, paint, and yard work transformed an abandoned
property, owned by a bank, into an actual rental property in our local
California market. Now, the hard and difficult lessons took hold. We learned
how tenants damage your home, try to avoid being served court documents
and even lie in court during eviction proceedings while producing forged
evidence. We also learned we should have hired a property manager, but didn’t
because the numbers on the property were too thin to afford one. In the end,
after we got the tenants out and sold the property in two years, we “flipped” it

Part-time Real Estate Investing for Full-Time Professionals: Upgrade your mindset, portfolio and finances in less than a year while working by Derek Clifford