Financial Independence achieved! Thanks, MMM!

[gollygeebers]

I became financially independent after seven years of hard work, taking risks, and getting lucky. The journey started when I rented a house from a guy who did a really bad job of taking care of it. Ultimately, he inspired me to learn how the world of houses work and see if I could do things differently. Slowly I absorbed the math and hands-on skills of what it takes to turner a fixer-uper into a functional home. Over the years I was able to buy two houses myself and fix them up while I was working jobs that paid less than 30k a year. It wasn’t all happy-go-lucky, and I spent most of those years living in garages, but I learned to love the whole process of buying a crappy house, turning it into a welcoming home, and renting it to people who appreciate it.

MMM has been an awesome resource over the years, especially in regard to helping me keep my expenses really low. Thanks MMM!

I wrote out the whole story in my blog. Feel free to check it out here: How I Learned to Make Money With Houses

[Note: I originally wasn't sure if it was OK to link a blog on the forum, so I asked that question, which is what some of the original responses are referring to.]

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I have no problem with your linking personally, it wasn't plastered with ads or Rick-Rolls :)  However, I wouldn't necessarily call you FI, based on what you put in the blog post.  You don't necessarily seem to be 100% free to do whatever you want based on passive income that is dependable.  But then again, I put a high threshold on my personal understanding of FI and there is no 'fiduciary expectation' that people who claim to be FI are conforming to my rules.

[gollygeebers]

Yeah, it's difficult to pinpoint FI. In my case, I technically have the option to use property managers and be completely hands off and still cover my low expenses. And that's where I land in my own personal definition of FI: you have the option for your income to be completely passive. But, like many folks here, I enjoy managing my projects, and it earns me more money, and I'm happy with my current level of freedom / work, so I choose to be more hands-on about it. I guess that would be similar to people who choose to be very active in the stock market, but could just be letting things ride in index funds.

Thanks for the thumbs-up in regard to posting here. My friend suggested that I should bullet-point the story in the forum, and then just provide a link at the bottom, that way it would give people the option to leave the forum only if they had further interest. Perhaps I'll modify the post soon. [EDIT: I did this.]

[astephens94]

congratulations and well done!!

[SwordGuy]

I read your post.  Great job!

[aFrugalFather]

Yeah, it's difficult to pinpoint FI. In my case, I technically have the option to use property managers and be completely hands off and still cover my low expenses. And that's where I land in my own personal definition of FI: you have the option for your income to be completely passive. But, like many folks here, I enjoy managing my projects, and it earns me more money, and I'm happy with my current level of freedom / work, so I choose to be more hands-on about it. I guess that would be similar to people who choose to be very active in the stock market, but could just be letting things ride in index funds.

Thanks for the thumbs-up in regard to posting here. My friend suggested that I should bullet-point the story in the forum, and then just provide a link at the bottom, that way it would give people the option to leave the forum only if they had further interest. Perhaps I'll remove this post and do that soon.

That seems FI to me!  Congrats.

[retireasap26]

How awesome. Good for you.

[Dicey]

Good for you. We just closed on our third SFH rental today. We flipped a house last year and then decided to concentrate on buy, fix up and rent out for the next phase of our lives. As soon as we finish this one and get it rented out (extensive wallpaper border removal + full interior paint job + exterior landscape decluttering is all it needs), we'll make a lowball offer on the next one. Fun times!

[gollygeebers]

Thanks, everyone! And nice work, Diane C! Looks like you're moving in the right direction, indeed!

[Cannot Wait!]

Nice job on reaching FI and on the blog.  Kudos!

[MrStash2000]

I became financially independent after seven years of hard work, taking risks, and getting lucky. The journey started when I was renting a house from a guy who was doing a really bad job of showing up when important repairs needed to happen. Ultimately he inspired me to learn how the world of houses work and see if I could do things differently. Slowly I absorbed the math and hands-on skills of what it takes to buy a fixer-upper and turn it into a place where people want to live. Over seven years I was able to buy two houses myself and fix them up while I was working jobs that paid less than 30k a year. It wasn’t all happy-go-lucky, and I spent most of those years living in garages, but I learned to love the whole process of buying a crappy house, turning it into a welcoming home, and renting it to people who appreciate it.

MMM has been an awesome resource over the years, especially in regard to helping me keep my expenses really low. Thanks MMM!

I wrote out the whole story in my blog. Feel free to check it out here:
https://gottakeeplearning.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/how-i-learned-to-make-money-with-houses/

[Note: I originally wasn't sure if it was OK to link a blog on the forum, so I asked that question, which is what some of the original responses are referring to.]

That is an amazing story. Thanks for sharing.