Windows of Wealth

This month we’re trying something a little different: a pre-recorded video. It’s for a couple of reasons: 1) Zoom attendance has been low, and 2) This is an important topic where I wanted to make sure my thoughts were well organized.

The topic is a book called “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by Matthew Desmond. It’s a detailed and fair look at Milwaukee and some of the issues of poverty and discrimination in the rental business.

As investors, we often get caught up in the business side of rentals, but it’s important to look at how some of our tenant’s lives are impacted. I think you’ll find the book enlightening for landlords. It’s not necessarily a book you want to read, but one that is worth reading. In this video, I review some of the main stories and my thoughts as a landlord. You can also listen to the audio.

James

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Here’s the video:

Here’s the audio-only version, which can be played here or in any podcast app.

Just in case the economy doesn’t bounce back right away, it would be prudent to discuss how to invest in a recession.

This topic will consist of two parts:

Part 1: How to Identify an Economic Downturn

We’ll look at 8 indicators. Some are qualitative and some are quantitative, but when looked at as a whole, you’ll get a good picture of where things are headed.

Part 2: Investment Strategies and Tactics

Strategies are the high-level niches like flipping houses, buy & hold, wholesaling, self-storage, etc. We’ll talk about each of these and how your tactics – the implementation – might change.

I think you’ll find this topic timely, and my hope is that you’ll have the confidence to build your business, even during a recession.

We’ll also leave time for a general Q&A since I have a hunch there are some specific situations questions.

See you on Zoom.

James

When: Tuesday, 5/26, 7-9pm(-ish)

Where: Zoom (send a message for the link)

Photo by Jason Pofahl on Unsplash

How are you holding up in isolation?

How are your tenants holding up?

If it’s anything like my household, there’s some ups and some downs. I’m grateful the weather has been nice enough to do some yard work, and for the most part, my tenants aren’t moving.

I also have a hunch there are still lots of questions. Is this the beginning of the next recession? What can we do to avoid pitfalls, while seizing opportunities during this time?

Let’s get together via Zoom next Tuesday evening for a Q & A session around COVID and sheltering in place. It’ll also be a time to connect and encourage one another.

See you then!

James

When: Tuesday, 4/28, 7-9pm(-ish)

Where: Zoom

Photo by Dhaya Eddine Bentaleb on Unsplash

Happy new year!

Are you being intentional in 2020? Being intentional is about setting goals, making a commitment, and taking action. That’s what we’re going to talk about this month.

Once you build intentionality into your daily routine, you can achieve the incredible success that sometimes seems out of reach. I’ve been using the Intentions Journal by Brandon Turner, will share what I’ve learned, and how you can incorporate it to achieve your goals. It’ll be a fun session with examples, and templates to get started yourself.

This really is a solid foundation to take your investing to the next level this decade – whether you’re just getting started, or already a seasoned investor.

See you there!

James
 

Where: Town & Country Conference Room (map)

When: Tuesday, 1/28 , 7pm – 9pm

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Depending on who you talk to, the US economy is perfectly fine, or at the beginnings of a correction, or on the precipice of complete financial and demographic collapse.

But what do you notice about those statements?

There’s no timeline on when it’ll happen.
There’s no clarity on the severity.
There’s no direct connection to real estate.

The problem is that nobody really knows and so the signal gets lost in all the noise. Is a yield curve inversion a big deal? Do single point measures like gold and oil prices matter? What about broader measures like GDP, unemployment, or the stock market? Then there’s demographic/immigration trends, political amphitheater, and affordable housing issues.

At this month’s meeting, we’re going to learn all the different ways to measure the heath of an economy and how to use them to predict what’s going to happen. If you have indicators you look at, please share them with the group.

We’ll dive a little bit into the technical analysis side of things so you understand the theory and principle. Then give you some memorable heuristics you can use when reading/listening to the news to quickly assess it’s impact.

This will be a very useful meeting for watching next 20 months.

See you there!

This month we’re going to practice negotiations based on the book “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss. Don’t worry, it won’t be high pressure, but it will be interactive.

Negotiations are one of those things we all do and is critically important to investors, but most people shy away from them and rarely practice them in safe environments, and therefore aren’t very good at it.

We won’t become experts after one night, but we’ll learn the best tools to help us get more out of each deal. It’ll be a lot of fun! I promise. 🙂