anyone here a millionaire from REI?

[jdeity]

just curious

[reoconsultants]

No I am just a poor white boy! Learning the ropes.

And I also have some Ocean front property in Iowa and Colorado. Both locations have access to a sandy white beach. Private pier and Great Scuba diving. Not to mention all the Sea Food you can eat. And Cruises leaving daily. To great locations including Minnesota, Chicago, and Las Vegas.

[propertymanager]

Due to privacy issues, I doubt if anyone will answer that question directly.  However, being a "millionaire" is just about meaningless in the real world.  The classic definition of a millionaire is someone with a net worth of $1,000,000.  It is very easy to pick up equity when buying real estate, but it is much more difficult to build a sustainable cash flow.  Unfortunately, you can not eat net worth and many "millionaires" are very cash poor.  As I've said many times before, Cash Flow is King when it comes to Real Estate!

Mike

[jdeity]

mike, i think i disagree about it being meaningless.  i mean a million dollars can buy cash flow through the purchase of income producing properties.  whether or not they have cash flow on a regular basis isn't really what i was aiming for, just a measure of how much people have accumulated through REI, to get a feel for how many 'pros' there are here.

immediately after typing i realized that some people may be hesitant to answer even if they are.  really wanted to know how many people have built a real solid net worth through REI that still actually come and post in the forums

[yrush2000]

Real estate has made more millionaires then any other profession.  Some become millionaires from just 1 or 2 purchases in their lifetime because they held the property for 30yrs or more...

For instance..I grew up in L.I NY where my parents still have there house.  Bought it back in 1977 for about $35,000..today that house is worth about $1.5mil... They own it free and clear...So yeah they are millionaires by mistake in real estate and yes its all in 1 piece of property.  Will they sell..NOt yet..no need to...besides I much rather wait till they pass on and get to sell it myself..LOL

[pauly99]

and I remember reading (ummmm sorry Robb) something similar to this.

Take out a piece of paper.
Write "I am a millionaire".
Ok, you are now a millionaire on paper.

Tear up the paper and get to work.

I am not a millionaire (as of this moment), however
if I had a million dollars I would be buying properties
the same way that I am looking to purchase properties
today. Through lease option or Sub2 with no money
out of pocket.

[jdeity]

and I remember reading (ummmm sorry Robb) something similar to this.

Take out a piece of paper.
Write "I am a millionaire".
Ok, you are now a millionaire on paper.

Tear up the paper and get to work.

I am not a millionaire (as of this moment), however
if I had a million dollars I would be buying properties
the same way that I am looking to purchase properties
today. Through lease option or Sub2 with no money
out of pocket.

i highly doubt you would be looking for lease options and sub2's if you had a million in hand.  

either way, your post is useless. it is very clear by my original posts that i was interested in who had a ton of success in real estate investing, not a 'millionaire on a piece of paper'.  i made it very clear i was talking about an indicator/measure of success in general in REI.  i don't want to get into a retarded semantic argument with you, i don't have the time.  my point is obvious, now i realize that if there are many highly successful people here they most likely won't be posting about it.  trying to convince people that having a million dollars is meaningless is just dumb

[NoMoneyDown]

Take out a piece of paper.
Write "I am a millionaire".
Ok, you are now a millionaire on paper.

Tear up the paper and get to work.

LOL!  Good one!

[kdhastedt]

pauly's well-taken point was that there's a huge difference between having a million doallars and having a million dollars in equity...

Based on all of this, I'm a "hundredaire"...does that count?

Keith

PS - where I'm from, it is considered rude to ask how much money someone else has...

[pauly99]

J, didn't mean to get you all riled up. You can
read as much as you want but at some point
you are going to have to take action. Whether
it is following a guru or a set of guru's (one's that are out there making deals) I firmly believe that specialization is the key. Yes, you need to be able to offer alternatives to the homeowner if it will help to solidify a deal but if you learn something (practice it) and do it over an over again while tweaking your system (constant and never ending improvement), you will find what works for you.

Very few people fall into deals. Most of us have to work hard at it. Get a website, get a team together, do a bunch of marketing, get leads coming in, learn to talk to homeowners about what you have to offer.

I've only been doing this for a matter of months and have already run into some individuals who will go out of their way to help you out while others will take you for your last dime if they had the chance.

This forum is a great tool if you take the time to read through it. I will still be dealing in Sub2's and lease options (no money down... what could be better) but I will also will move over to the commercial side in the years ahead.

Pauly
 

[Bluemoon06]

I agree with PropertyManager.  I was reading an article and there was a journalist that was working with Quicken doing her taxes and realized that her house had appreciated so much that she was now a millionaire.  She still had the lifestyle of a beat it out everyday worker bee.  You seem to be asking about a person that lives life like a rock star or Donald Trump.  I always say that money is NOT the same everywhere.  I am like kdhastedt I am in control of a million dollars worth of real estate but my equity is not at a million dollars yet.  My cash flow, however, is enough to almost fund my lifestyle.  When it does, I will be who you are asking about.  I will put my lifestyle up against any of my millionaire friends in New York and California.  Because of where each of us lives, they will need a lot more cash flow to live like I do.  I was watching the HGTV © House Hunters television show last night.  A young couple in New York was buying a co-op for $290k.  It was 1020 sqft with a kitchen that they could hardly turnaround in.  In Texas $290k would get them a house that is about as nice as the house that Ozzy Osborne lives in.  (I watch too much TV).  So the question about how much money a person makes or what his net worth is hard to standardize.  I need about 6 more houses and I will be able to say I have a lifestyle with new cars, big house and vacations to Hawaii and the Caribbean all paid for by my real estate.

By the way, I am closing at 4:00pm today on one of that 6 remaining.  It is a 2100 sqft 3 bed 2 bath 2 gar with a gameroom for $75k.  I am going to put about $15k into it and have a house with $90k in it.  It appraised at $127k.  My PITI will be $1050 it will rent for $1200 to $1350.  That is a positive $150 to $200/month.  I am getting there one house at a time.

[aak5454]

i highly doubt you would be looking for lease options and sub2's if you had a million in hand.  

you are wrong.  You do deals in a way that makes sense for your situation.  For example, I'm about to get into a nice, cash flowing 4-plex for $6k out of pocket (basically closing cost) (no gimmicks either).  Last month I bought a property for $98k and paid cash.  I have my reasons for structuring deals based upon finanical return I need, exit strategy, etc.

Money made in REI is a rather poor measure of success in many ways.  There are some real experts out there who probably have yet to make a million, while there some folks here in SoCalif who have made a Mil and don't kow their butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to really getting deals done.(i.e. a blind monkey could have made money in SoCalif in the past few years).

[NoMoneyDown]

a blind monkey could have made money in SoCalif in the past few years

Also known as "Property Ladder" fodder.  8)

[kdhastedt]

"Even the blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes"...

Keith

[jdeity]

J, didn't mean to get you all riled up. You can
read as much as you want but at some point
you are going to have to take action.

who says i am not going to?  if you read any of my other posts you'll see i am currently saving, along with my fiance, and expect to have ~25K for our purchase in early '07.

Very few people fall into deals. Most of us have to work hard at it.

i never implied otherwise.  i wanted to know how many people were making great money here.  sure some people make windfalls without trying, but surely others here are millionaires and had to work for it.

Get a website, get a team together, do a bunch of marketing, get leads coming in, learn to talk to homeowners about what you have to offer.

a team?  a website?  i'm sure successful investors would argue against those being your first steps in investing.  i'm sure i will need a 'team' down the road, but as a newb i can't imagine how 'get a website, get a team' is so important at the onset of a career in REI.

I've only been doing this for a matter of months and have already run into some individuals who will go out of their way to help you out while others will take you for your last dime if they had the chance.

that is why i earlier said if you were a millionaire, you would continue doing deals the same way as you are attempting to now.  that is just plain dumb.  i'm not saying i'm an expert, nor am i saying you will never do sub2 or lease options.  what i AM saying is that those strategies are all that are available to you without much capital.  if you have a million dollars in hand, sometimes it will be in your best interest to use it.  zero down isn't always the best option in REI.  it simply does not produce the best numbers in all circumstances.
aside from the fact that it is sometimes better to use your own money, you have been in this for a few months, and i wonder if you've even done a deal or more than a few (no disrespect, i have not done a single deal either, i do not mean that in a derogatory way).  given your extremely small amount of experience, it seems, well, weird that you happen to know waht you will want to do through your entire career.






and whoever said something about whether or not it is rude to ask about money where they're from, well, we are on the internet buddy, not in your hometown.  it is rude to ask a specific person about their income, i absolutely agree.  posting a general question, open to all users on an *anonymous* board, is by no means rude.  you don't have to answer if you don't want to, the rudeness in real life is when you ask someone personally about it; that puts them on teh spot and is rude.


again, it doesn't seem like this thread is going to get anywhere.  it seems everyone is getting upset that someone is inquiring about success on the board.  i know having a million doesn't necessarily mean certain things, but the idea of the question was quite straightforward.  seems that on a board that is obviously dominated by people who have never done a SINGLE deal, it isn't that unreasonable to wonder, 'hey, is there more than like 10 guys here who are actually making lots of money?'.  you guys can tear apart the question on semantics, but i don't see what the problem with a general question like this really is.