If you already own your home, you will probably make money in real estate without ever buying another property. The home you are currently buying with a mortgage is probably one of the most valuable appreciating assets you will ever own. You are making money by living in your own home, even if you never buy any additional property. This, within itself, makes you a successful real estate investor. I have been fascinated with real estate investing for many years, but it all began with a startling discovery 35 years ago. In 1970 I had bought a little house for my family in the Green Hills area of Nashville. It wasn't much, but it was adequate and it was home. In 1978, we decided to sell. We sold that little house for $67,000. That's when the light bulb went off in my head. I was shocked with a discovery that led me to fall in love with real estate investing. I suddenly realized that we had made $40,000 profit in 8 years JUST LIVING IN THAT HOUSE! We had not painted it. We didn't add any rooms. We built no patio. We just lived in it!!! We had made $5000 a year simply living in that house. I began to think to myself: what if I had two similar houses that generated $10,000 a year profit? Or, five houses that generated $25,000 a year profit? I began to fantasize the possibilities. This awareness launched my real estate investing career. Soon I was buying millions of dollars in real estate. But the real challenge was buying real estate without any capital. I had just experienced a serious business failure, and had no cash reserves and no credit. I learned how to buy a house with only a $10 bill. I never walked into a bank to ask for a loan, and I never applied for a mortgage. But conquering the challenge led to buying $10 million in real estate in only four years. That whopping $40,000 profit that went into my pocket from simply living in that house I sold in 1978 was just the tip of the iceberg. I still live in the Green Hills area of Nashville. I pass that same house every day that we owned in the 1970s. It recently went on the market again, and it quickly sold. This time that same house sold for $200,000. I don't know what's been done to improve the interior, if anything, but no exterior changes have been made to that house. It's still about 2000 sq.ft. The lot is the same size. But the value has increased significantly. Discovering this concept has made real estate investing very exciting to me. |
