Saturday, October 11, 2008

Why Buy Real Estate?

There are so many advertisements in the paper about "great buys" right now.

Why I like real estate is it offers an opportunity to live differently. A real estate agent I worked with 5 years ago said that to me and it stuck.

I maintain that I need to be "moved" by a piece of real estate. It has to serve a bigger purpose than just income. I am not interested in being a landlord. Being a landlord is a form of paid work that has never appealed to me.

I want to be able to enjoy each piece of real estate I own so the prospect of someone else "buying" it for me over a period of decades doesn't give me as much satisfaction as something I am paying for that I get to use right now. A place that enhances my life Right Now.

Some days I wish I could be a landlord because it can be great form of passive income. Unfortunately I can only see the parts where one gets called in the evenings and weekends about a leaky toilet.

The point of the life I am striving to create is one where I am gaining freedom. Being called to an emergency or issue isn't freedom to me. I don't necessarily wish to be found on the weekends. No amount of money I could make from rental income could make it so. I guess I could employ a property manager in these cases but it would cut into the profit margin and make it not worth while.

In the end, I've bought properties that enhances my life now. They will be paid for by the time I am 41 years old. They provide the environments that allow me to live differently, be creative, be grateful for such beauty and privacy without breaking the bank.

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