9 Secrets to Finding Off-Market Properties Cheap

December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 by Rich

Finding off-market properties and getting a good deal is absolutely key to being successful in real estate investing.

Why?

The market is hot. And overpriced.

We are near or at the top of a real estate cycle.

This mean most cities are saturated with investors bidding up the prices of all types of real estate investments.

How can you be successful as a real estate investor in an environment like this?

Find ways to contact motivated sellers that aren’t currently listing their properties for sale.

Finding Great Deals on Real Estate

Here are the top ways to find off-market deals:

Directly contact owners – voice call, text, or mail
Driving for dollars
Wholesalers
Short Sales
Auctions / Foreclosures
Tax Liens and Tax Deeds
Networking (Investors, Property Managers, Contractors)
Craigslist
Probate

We’ll go through each one-by-one.

Through these methods, you find a way to not pay full price on the multiple listing service (MLS) like everyone else.

Long Distance Real Estate Investing Secrets

October 28, 2019October 22, 2019 by Rich

What do I know about long distance real estate investing?

As a military member:

I’ve moved every 1 to 3 years while investing in real estate

I currently have 20 paid-off single family homes

I’ve self-managed and used management companies

I bought 16 properties while living overseas

I read a blog post this morning that said investing long distance requires a slightly different approach than normal real estate investing.

It’s a different ball game altogether.

The secret to mastering long distance real estate investing is getting these 5 things right:

The Importance of Boots on the Ground

The Best Real Estate Agent for Long Distance Investing

Choosing a Property Manager from Long Distance

Choosing the Right Property from Long Distance

Managing Contractors from Long Distance

The Importance of Boots on the Ground

This is where I feel a lot of new investors make their first mistake.

They are neglecting the importance of having boots on the ground.

There have been good books written about long distance real estate investing and how easy it can be done using video, pictures, docusign, and aligning yourself with a great “team.”

This all sounds great, and might work for an experienced investor.

I can tell you from a practical standpoint, however, that nothing replaces the importance of having boots on the ground that you can trust in the location you are investing.

Whether it is a contractor trying to rip you off, tenant trashing a house, or just a need to respond quickly to an emergent situation at your property, there is nothing like having someone you trust that can tell you what is actually going on with your property.

Investing with VA Loans – A Complete Guide

December 1, 2019September 19, 2019 by Rich

This post was originally published on August 8, 2018. I updated, lengthened, and added a table of contents to it.

Investing in rental property with VA Loan is a tricky subject. There are many rules that dictate how a VA should be used. Investing with a VA loan, even in multi-family, is possible. I will show you how to do it so you can get rental income.

The VA doesn’t say you can use the VA loan for investing, but if you understand the rules, and buy properties as you move from assignment to assignment in the military, it is possible.

You can’t just buy a home and make it a rental property without living in it first. There is an occupancy rule I’ll be discussing.

You can, however, buy a house at your current assignment using your VA benefit, live in it for a short period of time, turn it into a rental property when you leave, and buy a house at your next assignment with a VA loan repeating the entire process.

Another possibility for investing with a VA loan is buying a 2, 3, or 4-plex using your VA benefit and living in one of the units for a short period of time. When you move on to your next assignment, you’ll be able to turn the entire property into an rental property legally.

Let’s start digging into the details!

The first thing we need to understand is the occupancy rule.

Occupancy Rule

TSP Loan – Should I Get One?

September 21, 2019April 23, 2019 by Rich

It is possible to get a TSP Loan.

But should you?

Couldn’t we use it to buy real estate and make a fortune?
Couldn’t we invest in the next hot thing, like an IPO, or bitcoin?
What about gold!?!

These are some of the questions we are here to answer today. I’ve heard people suggest these very things.

I’m going to first explain how the program works, then explore how using it will impact your future retirement income (ouch).

If you want the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) and skip the TSP Loan intro, click this section , just tell me if I should get it or not!

THE TSP LOAN PROGRAM

I’ll be abbreviating the TSP loan program here, but here is the source link from tsp.gov.

The TSP Loan program lets you borrow money from your own TSP account while you are either in the armed forces or employed by the federal government.

HOW IT WORKS

When you borrow the money, it comes out of your actual TSP account. It can be any amount between $1,000 and $50,000, not to exceed your contributions and earnings from those contributions. It does not include any agency contributions (blended retirement system or BRS) or earnings from agency contributions.

As you are repaying this loan, it is repaid with interest through payroll deductions back into your own TSP account. This means that this large amount of money will not be growing tax advantaged in your TSP account during the time period you have borrowed it. You lose the opportunity for that growth. More on this later.

Keep in mind, even though you are paying interest, it’s a low, low rate and you pay it back to yourself, so it’s not really a cost to you. The interest, however, is not tax-deductible.

LOAN ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for a TSP loan, the following must apply:

Employed by uniformed services or federal government
In pay status
Only have one outstanding general purpose loan and one outstanding residential loan from any one TSP account at a time
Have at least $1,000 in your TSP account not counting agency contributions and earnings
Have not repaid a TSP loan of the same type within the past 60 days
Not had a taxable distribution of a loan within the past 12 months unless it was the result of your separation from Federal service
Not had a court order against your TSP account

Are Charles Schwab Index Funds the Cheapest?

April 24, 2019March 27, 2019 by Rich

Charles Schwab index funds fees are certainly among the lowest.

There is a fierce battle waging between the big firms for the lowest index fund management fees.

We can thank Vanguard for low fees overall. I think they started kicking too much ass and taking too much market share, so Fidelity and Charles Schwab index funds took notice and started slashing their fees.

This has been nothing but good for investors. I’ll have to keep this and other similar posts constantly updated, as prices are slashed among the big three often. I’ll summarize the recent changes later.

INTRODUCTION OF INVESTING AT SCHWAB

When you buy Charles Schwab index funds, here’s some of what you get:

Mutual Fund OneSource service funds and other No Transaction Fee funds are $0 for online trades

All other mutual funds cost up to $76 to buy and $0 to sell

Online stock trades are $4.95 per trade

Online Schwab ETF OneSource trade are free

Other ETFs can be purchased for $4.95 per trade

If you are going to buy Schwab index funds outside of the Schwab mutual fund family, definitely invest somewhere else. Their fee for other mutual funds really makes it cost prohibitive (that means way too damn expensive!)

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT CHARLES SCHWAB INDEX FUNDS?

$167 billion under management in mutual funds and ETFs

3^rd largest provider of index funds (behind Vanguard and Fidelity)

No minimums to invest (This is an issue at Vanguard)

CHARLES SCHWAB INDEX FUNDS

I’m going to talk about the features and fees of the three most popular and competitive mutual fund categories. Here we go!

S&P 500 INDEX FUND

Aaa yes, the benchmark of all index funds in my opinion. It has a dear place in my heart as my main investment during most of my military career.

Just that.

Nothing else.

It is Warren Buffett index fund recommendation of choice.

EXPENSE FEE: .02%

MINIMUM INVESTMENT: NONE

5 Worst Financial Mistakes to Avoid for Military Members

March 25, 2019March 18, 2019 by Rich

Maybe you’ve made some of these mistakes military members make.

I made a few of these mistakes myself, but I’m still here today doing relatively well.

Let’s see how you measure up.

1. GOING INTO DEBT

I want to use a few other phrases to signify what kind of mistakes get military members or families in trouble.

It’s living large when you haven’t made that money yet.

Spending money you haven’t earned. Otherwise known as… Keeping up with the Jones’s.

The funny thing is, the Jones’s are going into debt to keep up with you too!

Here are some things that will really put you into debt:

Buying or renting much more house than you need…

I see it time and time again in the military. A married couple with one newborn buying a 4000 sq ft property. Not sure what they will do with 6 bedrooms and 4 baths!

You want to be well off? Get the smallest property that will fit your needs. (Awww, that’s no fun!)

Having a new house custom built…

But it’s so nice to have a big house built to your specifications. You deserve it!

Big houses need lots of things to fill them up. They just don’t look right without expensive furniture and nice cars. They are also expensive to heat and cool. Good luck!

New or expensive cars…

Whatever you do, don’t buy a new car. On top of that, don’t ever fall for that crap where you think you are getting some special benefit through military car sales. You are still overpaying and getting KILLED on depreciation the day you put the first mile on it.

I like buying used cars with one previous owner and low mileage. Ideally, you pay cash for it.

Vacationing while overseas…

You are stationed in Germany, and there are LOTS of 4 days weekends, so you are hitting a different country on each one. You are in Japan, and it’s the perfect gateway to Southeast Asia. Everybody will be filling their Facebook and Instagram feeds with travel while stationed overseas.

Don’t overdo it. Take advantage of existing geography and vacation in areas around you that you. Try to drive there instead of flying, and try to Airbnb instead of hotels.

The cardinal sins of debt…

TSP Allocation Strategies – The Best Out There

December 1, 2019December 22, 2018 by Rich

I’m sharing several TSP allocation strategies.

The Thrift Savings Plan is a defined contribution plan for United States civil service employees and retirees as well as for members of the uniformed services.

It is the rough equivalent of a 401k for military and civil service employees.

I’m not here to tell you which TSP investment strategy is best, that’s a fool’s errand. Giving this type of TSP advice is impossible.

The only way to do that is to go into the future, see how things turn out, and then tell you which TSP allocation would have been ideal.

I will, however, give you the tools to make an informed decision about the best TSP strategy for you with some good food for thought.

Several of these TSP investment strategies are recommended by well-known money gurus such as Warren Buffett and Dave Ramsey. The Dave Ramsey TSP allocation recommendation is a widely-searched google term.

I’ve added every other TSP investment option I could find that will work with the funds as well.

Most of these TSP allocation strategies should work well if you regularly contribute to your thrift savings plan, ensure you are getting matching if it’s offered, and stick with the same TSP investing strategy over the long term.

I would caution against jumping back and forth between TSP investing strategies every time you find something bright and shiny. Many people erode their long term returns by “dancing in and out of the market.” (Warren Buffett)

To understand all this TSP advice, you must first get to know the five core funds inside the TSP and what they consist of. This is important in understanding how they are used in building TSP investing portfolios.

TSP INVESTING GUIDE – THE FUNDS

The G fund contains short term U.S. Treasury securities with no exposure to the risk of the bond or stock market
The F fund is an index of world-wide government, corporate, and mortgage-backed bonds
The C fund is equivalent to the S&P 500 index.
The S fund is an index of mid and small-cap stocks not included in the S&P 500.
The I fund mimics the MSCI EAFE Index of international stocks in 21 developed markets excluding the United States and Canada.
The L funds are professionally managed investment funds tailored to a specific time horizon.

from opm.gov

Now we dive into each one a little more in depth before going into our TSP investment strategies:

The G Fund – The Government Security Investment Fund

Pros: No volatility and backed by full faith and credit of the U.S. government

Cons: Can barely match the inflation rate; rate based on prevailing interest rate, which is currently low

This unique investment is only available for TSP investing. It’s rate is equal to 10-year treasuries, but their liquidity and protection from interest rate fluctuations is superior to 3-month T-bills.

The interest rate resets monthly and is based on the average of U.S. treasuries with a duration of 4 year or more.

9 Proven Ways to Boost Your Index Fund Returns (Video)

November 26, 2018November 23, 2018 by Rich

I’ll tell you how I’ve invested most of my career.

S&P 500 index fund. That’s it.

But, shouldn’t I be able to do better than that?

This post will show you a data-proven way to boost your index fund returns.

PAUL MERRIMAN

Paul Merriman is a believer in index fund investing. Additionally, he is a nationally recognized authority on mutual funds, index investing, asset allocation, and ran his own investment advisory firm since 1983. Paul has been on Wall Street since the 1960’s.

He’s been preaching something called the ultimate buy-and-hold portfolio for the past 20 years. His ideas aren’t revolutionary. It’s very similar to Larry Swedroe’s research on small value stocks and their superior performance over long periods of time. Moreover, he believes in the work of Dr. Fauna and Dr. French in regards to diversification to increase returns without adding risk.

With the ultimate buy-and-hold portfolio, we are going to keep the S&P 500 index, but only 10% of the portfolio, and then give 10% each to 9 other asset classes.

Most people say nothing outperforms the S&P 500 index over the long term. Well, that’s not exactly true.

Over the long term, 8 of the 9 asset classes we’ll be diversifying with have outperformed the S&P 500. Consequently, the risk is also roughly the same.

So the main ingredient in this portfolio is still the S&P 500 index. According to Merriman’s research, it has compounded at 9.3% between the years of 1970 to 2016.

Personally, that feels a bit high, but we’ll stick with his numbers today. I’m more comfortable claiming a historic 7% rate.

THE ULTIMATE BUY-AND-HOLD PORTFOLIO

Portfolio 1

For the sake of explaining this portfolio, think of the S&P 500 index as Portfolio 1. To start, we will invest $100,000 into our portfolio today between the dates of 1970-2016 to illustrate the growth that would have occurred with each step of diversification over that period.

At 9.3%, $100,000 would have grown to $6.5 million. No way I can live off that! We’ve got to do better!!

Compound return: 9.3%

Growth: $6.5 million

Portfolio 2

Military Millionaire – Seven Crucial Steps

November 29, 2019November 14, 2018 by Rich

It is possible to retire a military millionaire?

Definitely.

I did it well before retirement.

That’s with making plenty of mistakes along the way.

No trust fund, no help, wife didn’t work.

How can the average military member go from being in debt to military millionaire?

We all see websites, books, and courses from people who were deep in debt and somehow quickly made millions.

ALL THAT STUFF IS SHADY!

These gurus get rich off people looking for shortcuts. Most that try the guru route fail miserably.

It often involves going into lots of debt or paying a lot upfront for a product, course, or coaching.

These products do a good job of making money for who’s selling them.

They do a poor job of making you anything!

It also requires no common sense

5 Best Places to Save Your Down Payment (Video)

October 28, 2018October 26, 2018 by Rich

Where should you save your down payment for a house?

There are tons of articles and blogs trying to answer this question. I’m not happy with any of them.

I’ll try to answer this my way.

The Rich on Money way.

There are two main factors that will influence where you should invest your downpayment for a house.

The first is how certain you are in what timeframe you will need that money. Are you for sure using it within the next year? Not much of a reason to put it at risk.

Are you unsure if you will purchase something in the next several years, but want the option?

Maybe you should consider putting some of that money at risk instead of just letting it sit there not working for you.

The next factor is your risk tolerance.

Some people understand that by putting their down payment in the stock market or a mutual fund, they run the risk of either having it grow quickly, or the opposite, losing half or more of its value quickly.

Could you live with that tradeoff?

If not, go with the less risky options, even if you are not sure when you will purchase a house.

Also, there’s what I ended up doing in my life.

I’ll explain which one of these methods I ended up using for my money.

It’s one that could have backfired on me big-time, but luckily didn’t.

Let’s look at the least risky options first.