Real Estate Thoughts

We've been learning a lot about trying to buy an investment property and I thought I'd share some of the things we've been learning. We still haven't purchased anything yet, but boy are we ready when we find the right deal. Even though I'm going to focus on real estate, I think these four principles can hold true for any venture.

First off, here's were we're at: we've looked at a lot of property. Our goal was to evaluate 100 different places before we purchased. I don't think we've seen 100, but we've had at least 60 properties put in front of us, ran numbers on at least 40 (probably more), visited over 20 and made one serious offer. We've limited ourselves to duplexes, tri-plexes and 4-plexes, so it's been hard simply finding enough properties. Still, a couple pop up on our radar each week so it's a continual process. Just today I ran the numbers on a duplex in Philomath. It's 4-2 house that's been converted into a 2-1 duplex. The numbers are reasonable and depending on how some of my assumptions actually pan out, this could be a profitable property. Still, even if this one doesn't work out there will definitely be more along the way. This bring us to what Jessi and I have learned during this process.


Patience is needed. Clearly, looking at a 100 properties takes time. There were a couple properties early on that I thought could be good investments, but we weren't ready because we didn't have a confident picture of the market. This reminds me of Excel (What?! Stay with me). I often get people asking me how I became skilled at using Excel. My answer is, "Hours and hours of practice. What I just showed you in 2 seconds took me 2 hours of playing 3 years ago to figure out." Finding good investments works the same way. You need to take the time to learn, experiment ask questions. Sure, we've passed up on some good deals, but now we're ready to jump confidently on an investment when it comes available.

The deal of the lifetime comes once a week. I read this line in a book by Dolf de Roos and it really resounded with me. So far I watched two really good deals go by. Seriously, sometimes I'm in disbelief at how little some people are willing to let their property go for. Of course, that's when I kick myself for not making a stupid low offer. Then I remember that I've already seen two and there's at least two more deals of a lifetime waiting for us.

Fall in love with the deal, not the property. Being that we're looking for investment property it's all about the numbers. It doesn't matter how cute it is. It doesn't matter that isn't in the best neighborhood. In the end it's about the profit, just like any other business. Forgetting this will cause all sorts of pain. Jessi and I have gotten into the habit of filling out a cash flow form before physically looking at any property to decide if it's something we're even interested in. When we view the property, we're looking for ways to add value and save money to make the property even more profitable. Sometimes I'll say to Jessi, "Oh there's a good looking one." To which she dutiful replies, "I don't care. What's it's cash flow." How awesome is that?!

Mentors and cheerleaders are required. With all the ups and downs of finding an investment you really need help. Mentors are great because they can help with advice and knowledge. We currently have a few. Each mentor has an area of expertise that we pull from. Some help us with the knowledge of the local market. Others help us with our negotiating and posture. And finally some will help us with our philosophy in life. Each of our mentors have been where we want to be and are wonderful for seeking advice. This definitely helps avoid common pitfalls.
Just as important are cheerleaders. These are people who root us on and get us excited about what we're doing. We share our trials and triumphs and they are a blast to celebrate with.


We're still looking for our first investment property, so I'm sure more lessons are to follow. Still we think these are valuable and worth sharing now.

Paul Gets Stoned at Lystra

Today I was reading my Daily Reading Bible and a section stood out to me. I won't post the entire thing for today's reading, but here's the part I wanted to share, Acts 14. Pay particular attention around verse 19.

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

Paul Stoned at Lystra

19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria

24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples.

---

I'm amazed when I learn about Paul and what he went through. Could you imagine getting stoned? I mean, we're talking to the point that they thought he was dead! That's crazy. And to think that sometimes I think my life is hard. It's even more impressive after his attack: he simply gets up and continues to move forward. He doesn't complain. He doesn't point fingers. He doesn't even decide to hang low for a while and let it all blow over. I wish I could be this strong. I have definitely let setbacks stop me and compromised my integrity as a result.

For me, it's encouraging to read about Paul's life. To learn about the types of problems he faced and see the way he handled it. I don't have anything deep and insightful. I just wanted to share that I like Paul's approach to hardship. In today's times, this seems particularly relevant.

7 Habits Review

I recently finished the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. LifeHacker.com offered a free download of the audiobook on audible.com. I thought there were some good principles and wanted to share them.

• Habit 1: Be Proactive - Take responsibility for every aspect of your life. Decide you're in charge. So take initiative and action.
  
• Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind - Create your own personal mission statement based on principles you create. Set long term goals and measure everything you do against those.
  
• Habit 3: Put first things first - Prioritize tasks using a 2x2 matrix with "Urgent" and "Important". Tasks that are important should always come before urgent. We often choose urgent tasks first, but we should choose important first.
  
• Habit 4: Think win/win - Always look for mutually beneficial solutions. Find people's needs, not just their symptoms.
  
• Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood - Take the time to understand where people are coming from. With people, slow is fast and fast is slow. So slow down and take the time to truly understand them before offering up advice.
  
• Habit 6: Synergize - Similar to win/win, this is a way of working in teams. Value differences, use creative collaboration and leverage innovation. 1+1 should be greater than 2.
  
• Habit 7: Sharpen the saw - Focus on improving yourself. Watch less TV, read more and write more.

That's them in a nutshell. These are all good habits and I recommend listening to this book. Here's the lifehacker link again.

RB @parryfamilychronicles.blogspot.com Game of the Week: Alhambra

On Twitter there's a convention called "re-tweeting" where you literally re-post what somebody already said. I figured I could take that concept and use it to re-blog what was said over at parryfamilychronicles.blogspot.com. That's what's up with the weird title.

---


Another fun game to add to our list is Alhambra. This game is good for 2-6 players (though David and I have never played just the two of us, not sure it would be as fun) and takes about an hour to play. It's another excellent German board game and won the Spiel des Jahres in 2003.

The rules are pretty simple but like most games it takes playing a full game to understand some of the strategies. Everyone starts the game with a city fountain and $20 or more in currency. During your turn you can either take money, buy a city tile, or move a tile on/off your board. There are seven building types and you score points by having the most of a color at each of the three scoring times in the game. You also get points for having the longest continuous wall. The walls are what gives most new players the most trouble as they can really make it hard to play additional city tiles. You can only place a city tile in your Alhambra if you can walk to it.

There are four city tiles up for sale at the beginning of each turn, one in each of the four colored currencies. If you pay the exact price for the city tile you get another turn. If you overpay you don't get any change and your turn is done. Kind of a bummer, but if you really want a tile you better jump on the chance before someone else buys it! We played Alhambra earlier this month with our friends James and Jessi so I had a chance to take some pictures of the game and not borrow some from Boardgamegeek.com which I'm sure you're all appreciative of!

This photo shows David's Alhambra. He won this particular game so study up on his "stairstep" city tile placement strategy. It's a good one!

James is buying one of the four city tiles on his turn. There are four currency cards to choose from if he didn't want to buy a city tile, and if there are several small amounts you can take multiple currency cards as long as the value equals 5 or under. Helpful for paying in exact amounts and getting a second turn!

First 5K Since College

I love to run! I ran cross country all through high school and for two years in college. Unfortunately I had to stop running in college because of some chronic shin problems. The advice I got from several doctors and trainers was to get really expensive surgery or braces or just not run. As a poor college student I chose to not run even though I was heartbroken. I tried a few other sports...crew and raquetball...but nothing was ever quite the same as running.



I continued to have chronic shin problems (bruising, swelling, soreness...) even though I cut back on running big time. I totally stopped running around my senior year of college and did not train for about three years. On our honeymoon we did a lot of walking and around the third day I mentioned that my shins felt great! I decided that when we got back I would try running again and see what happened.

The only thing that changed in those three years besides getting older and not running was that I started taking some amazing natural products that are designed for joint and muscle fatigue and any kind of discomfort going on in the body. I ran when we got home and felt amazing! I had never recovered so quickly from long runs and while I was running I was close to matching my fastest training times from high school!

I was so excited this morning because I ran my first race since college!...and got just over my best time in high school!!! I also feel great right now and am almost fully recovered...I will be by tomorrow! I am totally excited that I am back on the race course and that one of our good friends, Dan Barram, shared these supplements with us that have allowed me to be myself again!

My goal, and one of my life dreams, is to run a marathon. I have my eye on the Portland Marathon next fall at this point and I will keep you posted on my training and progress...for now enjoy the pictures (courtesy of my wonderful husband) of my first race since college!

Jessi

Jessi is heading for Mexico

Jessi is going to be joining the Mexico Mission Trip Team from Northwest Hills Church at the end of March to go to Mexico and do some ministry work. She's going with a bunch of high school students and is going to be the official translator for the trip. She's super excited to go back to Mexico! This is one of the reasons why we started Univera - it gives us time freedom to give back to the community.

As excited as she is, we also know how hard this type of trip can be (imagine taking a two day trip with a bunch of high schoolers in a bus... and then doing it again within a week...). So Northwest Hills put together some prayer request cards for everyone involved and we wanted to share Jessi's. We'd like to request prayer for Jessi before and during the trip. The bottom picture outlines exactly what she's requesting, but don't feel restricted by it. :)

You can click on the pictures to get bigger versions.

Our New Bed

Since Jessi and I got married, we've been sleeping on an air mattress designed for camping. What can I say? We were cheap. :) Well, Jessi finally got fed up and we started saving for a bed and as you can guess today was the magical day it was delivered. We ended up getting a queen sized Issaquah Englander. So, here are some pictures of the momentous occasion.

Stop Animation Peanut Butter Jelly Time

This video was put together by my mom's second cousin, Alex (My Mom's cousin's son, which makes us related... somehow). He did it for a school project and it took 400 pictures. Besides the fact that the song is fun, it's a cool video too. So here's to promoting family creations. I hope you like it.

Lego Death Star

It recently came to my attention that we never showed the pictures of our completed Lego Death Star. It was an excellent project with many pieces being snapped together and there were only a couple of times we completely confused ourselves. Believe me, there are parts when making the "still under construction" section that make you go batty. Still, we made it through and it looks pretty good. It is now prominently displayed in our living room for visitors to admire.

I saw this style of picture layout on another blog and thought I'd give it a go.