19 Years Old: First RE Deal

[Rickson9]

The following is not my success story, but one of a 19 year old on a forum that I regularly frequent. I just thought I would share:



"Well, I haven't been around here much lately, but that is because I have
taken my first action and man was it great! I bought a mobile home here
in Iowa City (a few miles from my University Campus) and I sold it for a
large profit on a note (Lonnie Deal). I learned so much in the process,
and I am proud to say I did it all on my own before my 20th birthday."

http://www.thefastlaneforum.com/real-estate-investing/24068-19-years-old-first-re-deal-done.html



Here is his update, he's 22 years old now:



"After many brief hiatuses I am back; and with good reports. Many of you may remember my mobile home investment thread
from when I was 19 years old. After a couple additional mobile home
deals, some miscellaneous arbitrage, and saving; on Monday this week I
closed on my first multi-family apartment building."

http://www.thefastlaneforum.com/real-estate-investing/42965-22-years-old-first-apartment-building-acquisition-done.html#post239006



It is my belief that the millionaire stories of tomorrow will be based on individuals like this; those who are aggressively taking advantage of the US RE meltdown.

 

[MaximeValmont]

There will be millionaires made in the US when the house prices go up again, yes.



But the millionaire stories of tomorrow are in Shanghai, Hong-Kong, and Singapor. There are way too much regulations in the US right now, and I don't think it will change anytime soon. The culture changed. They are not hungry for money and success anymore.



Singapor, China, South Korea, now that's impressive. There is a whole culture based on hard work and success over there. The concentration of millionaire is impressive too.



Valmont.

 

[Rickson9]

No.

 

[Pheenix]

Rickson




Great follow up on a rag to riches story in the making.




This should be an inspiration to many, and a reminder to many more. It is possible to get ahead, in real estate, if you move smartly and conciously through the minefields.







Maxine




The problem with the US is not too much regulation but the decimation of the middle class by greed generally, and systemic corruption in the financial industry, which has been massively deregulated or under regulated (under enforced?) in the past decade or two.




We need to look at purchasing power parity and the average citizen's standard of living before we talk about the 'new millionaires' in the emerging markets and smaller economies, and the role of regulation in society.




Some of the 20th centuries leading industrialists/capitalist recognized in the early part of the century that if you pay your employees enough to buy the products you sell, and treat them well otherwise, you will increase your profit (Henry Ford for example).




Do we see this notion being repeated by the new millionaires in most of the emerging countries? Does the average worker have 'social/company safety nets' (and I don't mean the southern european welfare state approach) ? How fast is the middle class really developing in these countries or is this a modern equivalent of the robber barons?




I don't know; but my sense is that the average person in many of these countires has the deck so heavily stacked against them they have little real opportunity to truly become exceptional. The US has, less so recently, a strong tradition of making their rag to riches characters in to mythical figures, and celebrate them. If Canada would only be a little more celebratory of ours.

 

[Pheenix]

Sorry Maxime

 

[MaximeValmont]

Interesting, But I don't agree with you.









I think it's a culture problem. In the US, success and wealth is starting to be seen as bad. You can notice it with the occupy Wall street movement. About 90% of that crowd is anti-capitalism, but capitalism is not the problem. Capitalism is good.









There might be a big disparities between the rich and the poor in emerging markets, but that's normal with the groth they have. The bottom line is that even if there is a big difference between the rich and the poors, the whole group is better off.









There is almost no economic regulations in these countries, and they all have really high GDP compared to the rest of the world. They also have a culture in which work, success, discipline is a good thing.









It used to be like that in the US, and in the UK when they were a super-power, but now things have changed. People in the US are not hungry for success anymore. They are in another stage. They are in the stage in which they want to work less and have lots of social services.









Don't get me wrong, they will be lots of millionaires in the US in the future, but not even close to the numbers in places like singapor, shanghai, S. Korea.














By the way, if you compare the processus to starting a business in the US versus Singapor , you'll be suprised. In the US, you'll meet lots of resistance and lots of useless paperwork. In Singapor? Easy. Way more opportunities too.




By the way, the standard of living is way better now than in the 19th century

 

[Thomas Beyer]

[quote user=Pheenix]problem with the US is not too much regulation but the decimation of the middle class by greed generally, and systemic corruption in the financial industry, which has been massively deregulated or under regulated (under enforced?) in the past decade or two.
not quite that easy.



Here's a few problems I see:



a) The US, like much of Europe, has too many regulations and a bloated government at all levels.

Canada fares a bit better here.

Solution: less government



b) the US has no GST or VAT equivalent. Most industrial nations have that. This encourages overspending and lower federal tax revenue. a 4% tax could easily wipe out the vast federal deficit as it would raise over $1T !



c) interest deductability on not one, but two homes. This encourages too many, too big homes.



d) salaries of civil servants too high, frequently higher than the private sector, with less risk.



e) not enough medicare or social assistance for the less able than most European countries.



f) too many guns, especially the high powered kind



g) no tax on financial transactions, such as high frequency trading, thus frequent abuse of system



h) too much union power in too many states



i) too much debt on all 4 levels: feds, states, counties/cities and personal level



Unlike Europe, the US has the capacity to actually tax people more through a VAT/GST type system, tax stock trades, lower regulation, lower civic employee's salaries, adjust rules such as non-deductability of mortgage interest etc.



It already is starting a few of those, but it will be a wild idealogical fight as you can see with Romney vs. Obama .. tea party vs. democrats etc.



I think US will get their act together, unlike Europe, which is heavily overtaxed and over regulated, and overly indebted.

 

[Pheenix]

I really didn't intend to drag this 'good news' story into a socio-economic discussion, so won't add to that discussion overly. For the record, Thomas I agree generally on most of your points, especially that it is not simple.



However, my point essentially was that it is still possible to become wealthy in the US, as illustrated by this story, and any country with effective property rights laws and a vibrant middle class, where people have the opportunity to earn a decent wage and leverage their rights. The risk is the increasing gap between the wealthy and the average citizen, and the financial pressure on the middle class, and more importantly their respective preceptions and resulting actions.



For the socio-economic discussion, on the role of the middle class, google the likes of Peter Drucker, Hannah Arendt, and Max Weber. For the changes in the past few decades look up;



CEO pay level changes http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/13/how-can-we-address-excessive-ceo-pay/



Issues on high frequency trading http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/09/pressure-grows-for-crackdown-on-high-frequency-trading/



and changes in Canadian society over the past 30 years http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Canada+must+address+growing+income+inequality+Broadbent+Institute/7362133/story.html



I'll let more articulate and better informed authors speak on these issues.



Hurrah for the average 'guy' able to follow their path to wealth.