My new 5-10 year plan, am I on track here??

[fastfredracing]

Here is what I have been thinking, I have owned /ran an independent auto repair shop for the last
17 years now,, while I have made an O.K. Living at it, I am by no means wealthy, and running a buisness has been the cause of much stress , and aggravation over the years. I still enjoy working on cars, but as far as the buisness goes, the love is lost.
I have been buying rental properties on the side now for the last 3 years, and this side of my life is beginning to gain some momentum. If that buisiness grows at the rate it has been, its income will match the income I am making from my auto buisness in the next 5 years. When I reach this point, I think I am going to rent out my commercial building( large building near a busy highway, and in a real good growing area) and dissolve the buisness.. At this point in the game, I will be making more money than I am currently, and will not have to do the m-f grind everyday frickin' day to survive. I would probably at this point build a nice 50x50 building behind my house, and do side jobs, and probably just do Porsche, BMW Mercedes. With my extra time, I would also grow the rental buisness further. I will keep all of my equipment , as I own all of it, and will need it to make some extra side money.
What do you guys think? does this sound like a realistic plan?? The way I figure it, I am 39 years old next week, and I have about 10 good years left to make it, and if I dont, I will be changing brake pads on caravans for the rest of my life

[turbo6bar]

IMO, if you can stick with rental/investment RE for the long-term (at least one decade), you cannot go wrong. As usual, if you have bad business sense, rentals can eat your profits.

I favor low debt loads and a focus on reducing expenses. You seem to be heading in that direction by working out of a home workshop with free-and-clear equipment.

RE has made so many people wealthy. If I had to picks stocks or RE, I'd pick RE 100 times out of 100.

I would make an effort to reevaluate progress after 1 or 2 years. Are you buying the right properties? Is the profit worth the effort? Do you want to stick with the same type of property, or do you want to trade up? Like Monopoly, there is no ideal track, and our goals and needs change over time.

Here's to your continued success:
jurgen

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Here is what I have been thinking, I have owned /ran an independent auto repair shop for the last
17 years now,, while I have made an O.K. Living at it, I am by no means wealthy, and running a buisness has been the cause of much stress , and aggravation over the years. I still enjoy working on cars, but as far as the buisness goes, the love is lost.
I have been buying rental properties on the side now for the last 3 years, and this side of my life is beginning to gain some momentum. If that buisiness grows at the rate it has been, its income will match the income I am making from my auto buisness in the next 5 years. When I reach this point, I think I am going to rent out my commercial building( large building near a busy highway, and in a real good growing area) and dissolve the buisness.. At this point in the game, I will be making more money than I am currently, and will not have to do the m-f grind everyday frickin' day to survive. I would probably at this point build a nice 50x50 building behind my house, and do side jobs, and probably just do Porsche, BMW Mercedes. With my extra time, I would also grow the rental buisness further. I will keep all of my equipment , as I own all of it, and will need it to make some extra side money.
What do you guys think? does this sound like a realistic plan?? The way I figure it, I am 39 years old next week, and I have about 10 good years left to make it, and if I dont, I will be changing brake pads on caravans for the rest of my life

I used to be an auto tech myself. It's a horrible profession, i think your plan is very wise.

[jhynesrockmtn]

The plan sounds good to me. I was in rental properties at a pretty low level with my ex. We did pretty well over the years. The issue we had and why we stopped investing was the purchase prices in the Seattle market grew way above the range where you could come close to neutral or positive cash flow on anything after the mid 90's. Also, it was close to getting beyond our ability to manage things ourselves. The hassle factor changes with the economy and your real wealth in rentals is long term appreciation so you need a strategy as you get older to tap into that equity. You also need to plan for long term capital reserves for bigger ticket repairs as things age such as roofs, furnaces, plumbing, septic/sewer lines. There is much to learn but if you're off to a good start then stick with it. Just don't get greedy and go heavily into debt. I love the idea of working on the cars you want with the customers you want on the side. To me, that would be fun, wish I had those skills. John Walker is the king of that strategy in the Seattle Porsche community.

[Dueller]

Sounds like a good plan...very realistic. If I hadda guess you're investing in single family units. If I were considering this strategy, I'd be looking at duplexes, four plexes or even larger. Much more profit margin and you don't have the losses if you lose one tenant in a multi-unit property as opposed to a single unit.

[Rot 911]

I would look at small apartment complexes. better return on investment if bought right.

[tabs]

DITTO about your plan...only one thing here...somebody else has already bet your future.

[Dave L]

Do you have any long term employees that might be interested in taking over your business? Perhaps they would like to purchase it?

Just an idea.