Growing Baby
Our little boy will be 14 weeks tomorrow, and he’s growing like a weed! Although he is still significantly smaller than most 14 week old babies, he feels big to us. At his last checkup he was a little over 7 pounds, so I am assuming he’s over 8 pounds by now, which means he has almost doubled his weight since birth. He finally outgrew all of the preemie clothes and diapers several weeks ago, and we are enjoying all of the little newborn outfits he has. I think one of the greatest things is that his little personality is starting to show. He’s smiling and studying our faces and everything around him. And, I’ve learned how to make him enjoy bath time-give him bubbles! For the most part, during his bath, he just chills and plays with the bubbles, although he usually can’t stay in for too long because he tends to pee in the bath!
He has also had quite a bit of company in the past few weeks. My sister Gretchen, and her boyfriend Matt came out for a few days, and Avery was just spoiled rotten. Gretch held him for about 3 days straight, and Avery had numerous opportunities to spit up on both my sister and Matt. And, although my other sister Emily could not be here, she sent a little present along for Avery! See the pictures below.
And then about a week later, my parents came out for a quick weekend trip. This was the first time my dad was able to see Avery, which was great. We all had a great weekend, but it flew by way too fast! And now we’re all done with company for a while and Avery is recuperating, and keeping me busy. Apparently he’s going through a little growth spurt and eating like crazy and not sleeping so much. But at the moment he’s out cold-woohooooo! Well, that’s a little update on our Avery!
The Vagabond Approach to Real Estate Investing
Heidi and I have both talked about ways to increase our income to a level that would allow us to pay off our house in less than 10 years. We gathered that she would have to get a job making the same amount I am, and we’d have to apply at least half of her paycheck to the mortgage. Of course, winning the lottery and outright paying off our mortgage was another approach. And finally, we could change the game by moving to Alton park, or the outskirts of Highland park, and buy a house that costs as much as the new Jetta we’d love to have.
But there is an easier way, and I call it the vagabond approach.
The vagabond approach is where you move into a house you want to flip, take 6 months to get the work done, and then put it back up for sale. Assuming you make between $30-50k per house, and average 1 house per year, at the end of a 5 year period you can end up with a gross profit ranging from $150k to $250k. If you stay in the house 1 full year, then you only pay 15% tax on your profit. If you are able to sell closer to 6 months, then you pay in the 15-25% range (according to your tax bracket), but you then gain time to do another house (which makes it well worth paying the additional tax).
Wouldn’t it be nice to take a stroll down your favorite neighborhood in 5 years, and put a $250k downpayment on your favorite house?
Being a Real Estate Investor
Yes, I’m a fan of the shows “Flip this House”, “The Real Deal”, and “Hidden Potential”. I have the curse ability to find older homes that need work, and could still be profitable to renovate. Heck, if anyone has watched “Flip this House” and seen these amateur investors (with no renovation experience at all) still manage to make a small profit, it gives a little encouragement to those of us who do have renovation experience.
People are making money flipping houses in the Chattanooga area. I just wish I were one of them.
The plague of lingering, unfinished projects
I think one of the biggest wastes of time and sources of aggravation in home renovation (and life), is a bunch of unfinished projects that have been stagnating over the course of days, weeks, even months. Many times our ambitions are greater than our ability to fulfill them in a timely manner. We misjudge the time it takes to complete the project, AND the time available to complete the project. We fail to take into consideration the impact our daily activities (aka, social life) will have on the project. We are unable to properly prioritize and opt to start a new project before finishing an old one.
What unfinished projects have you been putting off, and what is keeping you from finishing them? I’m declaring the remainder of the month as a time to play catch-up. No more new projects until I finish up what I’ve already started.
And going on record, here is what I plan on finishing before June 1st.
- Finish painting the Living Room
- Replace light switches & outlets in the Living Room
- Install cabinet trim in the Kitchen
- Install shoe trim in the Kitchen, Nook, & Bathroom
- Finish painting over nail heads in Bathroom
Bridging the gap between being a dreamer and a mover
Hi, my name is Kyle, and I’m a compulsive dreamer. While many young adults my age are satisfied with their nice job, with the nice people making a nice salary…I’m not. I have 3 distinct career goals, although I’m only working on one at the moment. You see, while most people replace old career goals with new ones, I tend to just add the new ones. I see no reason why I should have to give up old goals to pursue new ones.
One of my favorite passtimes is to fantasize about winning the lottery. I shouldn’t fail to mention that I don’t play the lottery…which means my odds are only slightly lower than if I did. Despite this fact, I still enjoy the process of deciding where to squander my millions, while promising myself that the money won’t change who I am or how I live.
Being a web developer, I’m constantly thinking of new website ideas. Websites that would be fun to work on, and have a bit of profit potential. I must have at least 5 ideas …in my head …right now …stagnating. In one year’s time, I might as well cross half of them off as someone else will have gotten to them already…and made a dandy profit in the process…a profit that could have potentially been mine.
Being a dreamer is fun. There’s no risk. It’s safe. You won’t make a million dollars being a dreamer, but you won’t lose your house either. You won’t enjoy the fame of being the leader, or pioneer, but you won’t have to endure scouring critiques and harsh criticism. Anyone can dream.
How do you stop being a dreamer, and start being a mover?
Weed out your goals, and get to work. Find out what goals are the most important to you, and start moving towards them. The fewer the goals you start off with, the easier it will be to make accomplishments. The keys to reaching your goals are focus, determination, and forward motion.
Think of the pyramids in Egypt. There were no cranes available for them to just drop in a couple layers, they had to be built one stone at a time. In your endeavors, you have to remember to keep the foward motion going, as at times you may only feel like you are only moving a boulder…when you are done you can look down at your handiwork.
For me that means to kick my career goals out of my head for now and focus on the one at hand. To stop daydreaming about being a millionaire, and start taking the steps to becoming one. To start taking my website ideas, and turning them into a finished product. The keys are focus, determination, and forward motion. Maybe all of my ideas are duds, but maybe 1 isn’t. It is better to have failed while trying (and learn from the failure), than to fail by not trying (and learn nothing).