When I was 20 years old, I was sitting on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I was contemplating how I could ever become wealthy. I hadn't made up my mind what I was going to do for a living, yet. I have wanted to be a computer animator since I was in the 6th grade, but I've also known that it doesn't pay to be an animator...at least not enough to raise a big family like the one I have.
While I was sitting at the bus stop, there in Angra de Heroismo, I came up with the idea that if I wanted to be wealthy, I needed to be able to give someone nothing and get something in return. That was the only way to not be rich, but wealthy. I had decided that the only way I could obtain that was to sell an idea, like a patent. So I started a journal of invention ideas. It was a lot of fun. I came up with some really good ones, but nothing that stood out so much that I figured I'd "roll in the dough." I felt that an idea was giving nothing...just an idea was ether-nothing. If my idea was good enough, people would pay me for it. A few days later, I got a letter from my dad (yes, we still wrote letters back then ;) haha). In the letter, he explained to me that he was buying 8 bungalows on a parcel in California. He told me he was buying them for $200,000 and that he would be collecting $4,000 per month. I wrote back asking what his payment would be. He wrote back that he was buying them with cash, but if he had bought them with a loan, he would only have to pay less than 2,000 per month. EUREKA!
I had found something that would allow me to give nothing and get something in return! By giving someone a place to stay...or space-nothing...I would get money in return. Not only that, if I found the right place, my loan payment would be smaller than the rent!
(An aside: Here's the funny thing. I'm an honest man. I assumed all other people were honest. I assumed all other people would pay their rent because that's the right thing to do, right?!)
When I flew back to California a year later, I feasted for information about real estate investing. I found this website called Amazon that just sold books. I went on their site and looked up all the real estate investing books I could find that had been voted 5 stars. I figure if they were that good, I could learn from them. The other kicker was they had to be $1 or less. I didn't have much money yet. I ended up buying about 6 books and read all of them. My idea was if I found the same information across all the books, it was a truth and I could trust it. If I found an idea in one or two, it was more of an outlyer and I could take it with a grain of salt. This turned out to be a good filter.
I bought my first house in Mentone, California for 108,000. The seller figured because I was young, he'd help me out. The value was 128,000, but it would cost $20,000 to demolish, so he gave me a discount. Well...I didn't demolish it. I rehabbed it. After 18 months of rehabbing, I sold it for $274,000. I spent $30,000 on the rehab because I did nearly all the labor. It was a grand slam!
Here's the point of the story...Anyone can do what they put their mind to. I put mine to real estate. I have done well in some ways and poorly in others. In all areas of what I've done, I have learned and I continue to invest. If you aren't passionate, don't take the first step. Find something else you're passionate about.
What a ride!!
By the way, this is how I got my nickname, Bob the Builder :)