Yesterday’s LA Times had an interesting piece about boomers day-trading their retirement accounts in an attempt to beef-up their nest eggs in advance of retirement. Here’s the money quote: “”A lot more frequent trading is happening,” said Chad Carlson, a financial planner based outside of Chicago. “People are saying, ‘I’m that much closer to retirement … Continue reading “How to avoid having to day trade your retirement account”
Category: Success
More about wealth managers
Further to my previous post about wealth managers and why they’ve never called me, here’s an interesting NY Times article about the business practices of the wealth management team at JP Morgan Chase. It’s a pretty interesting piece and I would recommend giving it a read, but, if you’re busy, here’s the money quote: “These … Continue reading “More about wealth managers”
Why writers should own apartment buildings
At first glance, the title above seems pretty crazy, right? After all, writers are creative types. They spend their days conjuring stories from thin air to delight the public. Why should people like that be involved in the nitty-gritty of owning and managing apartments? Like many things in life, it comes down to money. Writers, … Continue reading “Why writers should own apartment buildings”
Elon Musk: An appreciation
When my brother and I bought our first building, I can remember this odd feeling when we began to advertise our apartments for rent. I felt like I should be asking someone’s permission to rent out the units. It seemed weird that we didn’t need some authority figure to bless what we were doing. We … Continue reading “Elon Musk: An appreciation”
Westmoreland = sold
Remember 1239 N. Westmoreland? We put up for sale on the MLS on April 17 for $949,000. On May 19, just over a month later, we closed for $950,000. After selling costs, we netted $920,000 or so. We bought the property and renovated it in 2009 for a total investment of $680,000. During the time we … Continue reading “Westmoreland = sold”
Follow Neal and Jodi’s Landlord Adventures
Jodi and Neal, friends who I helped buy a duplex in Echo Park a few months ago, are writing an awesome blog documenting their experiences as first time landlords: soweboughtaduplex.blogspot.com. The most recent entry describes their first landlord emergency, involving a clogged pipe and a weekend call to the plumber. It’s a great reminder that … Continue reading “Follow Neal and Jodi’s Landlord Adventures”
In defense of gentrification
We spent the last 3-4 years on the front lines of gentrification in East Hollywood, Silver Lake and Echo Park. We’ve paid around 65 tenants to move out of rent controlled apartments so that I could renovate and raise the rents. When I tell some people this, I can see from their facial expressions that … Continue reading “In defense of gentrification”
What real estate success looks like
So far on this blog, we’ve spent most of our time talking about buying your first building. But what does the end-game look like? One thing to understand about real estate is that there’s literally no limit to how big you can get. If you’re disciplined about saving money and re-investing, you can keep growing … Continue reading “What real estate success looks like”