I remember hearing a story about two young men who immigrated to America in desperate poverty. They worked, scrimped, and saved, and eventually each man had enough to buy a house. One man bought his house and rented it out, eventually pulling the equity out to purchase another, and another, repeating the process.

The other man improved his house in beautiful fashion, and sold it for a handsome profit. He took that money and repeated his process as well, each time purchasing larger homes, and eventually commercial properties.

Many years later each man had become very wealthy, and they got together one day over cigars to discuss casual business matters. The "landlord" told the "flipper", "Sir, I own very many houses now that produce a handsome monthly income. I must say that you are practicing real estate all wrong. You do not own even one home. You need to buy and hold, then when you pay down your mortgage enough you take out an equity loan and purchase some more." The flipper said "I buy properties, fix them up, and sell them". The landlord became perturbed and became more insistent, but each time the flipper repeated his phrase, "I buy properties, fix them up, and sell them". Eventually the landlord, becoming very frustrated with the flippers unchanging answer declared "I have an 8 figure net worth! You are doing it wrong! You have to hold on to everything you buy!"

The flipper calmly took a puff on his cigar and said, "I too have an 8 figure net worth ... I buy properties, I fix them up, and I sell them.."

Now the point of this story is that there are many different paths to wealth.. Being a management company ourselves, we tend to agree more with the buy-and-hold type investor, especially in today's downward turning real estate market. The days of the flipper aren't over by any means. Similarly, the days of getting rich in the stock market are not over either. But for each of these two types of investments the risk factor has increased significantly, and without a corresponding increase in short term profit potential. For pure safety of investment, it is nearly impossible to beat a solid, cash-flowing rental. Being a tangible asset and a commodity that everyone must employ, housing is a spectacular place to build your wealth.

Luckily, for those who are not full time real estate investors, there are companies (like us), who allow you to perform successfully in the real estate arena without abandoning your current wealth building endeavors. This is a phenomenal idea. When you purchase rental properties while maintaining a separate income, you are building wealth at a synergistic rate. $1+$1=$3. The dollars you are contributing to real estate investments are growing in at least 5 separate and powerful ways. At the same time, when you employ a management company you still have 100% of your time to apply to work, pleasure, or any combination that you see fit. It's a beautiful concept that an steadily increasing number of people have realized over the last 8 years or so. It's like working 2 jobs at once, or being twice as wealthy, or retiring in half the time- you decide.

We have chosen to focus on real estate full time. We are investors as well. For years we have studied property construction, real estate law, agency law, tenant psychology, geographic hotspots, management procedures, foreclosure procedures....every aspect of the real estate game. We have done this to be successful in real estate, and ultimately attain wealth, (after all- that's why you're working too, isn't it?) If you find this interesting, please feel free to give us a call. We'd love to hear from you.