Today I want to talk about a prime example of how I think and what I consider to invest in changes all the time. A few months ago I talked about how I am not the biggest fan of buying investment property, but I think my opinion has changed a bit to the point where im considering buying a property to see how it goes. I think its important to realize that your ideas are allowed to constantly change and evolve as you have more data and if something works out, you should admit you were wrong. If you were against something but all the data shows that it works, you need to be okay with changing your mind.

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In regards to why my mind was changed I want to talk about physical property investment. I was never a fan of physical property investment for a few reasons, its not completely passive, even turnkey properties that are managed will require some of your time, most of the country doesnt have deals worth it and in order to make good returns you need to be heavily leveraged. In my opinion If you are looking to save for retirement and never touch your money, the stock market is still probably the best way to go. Buying an index fund and never looking at it over a long period of time for the normal person will still probably be better, but there are benefits to property that stocks cant compete with. 

The main reason I am looking into property is because it gives someone like me who doesnt have a traditional income something very important, good cash flow. There are three types of properties when it comes to returns, the first are ones you invest in for the immediate cashflow that propbably wont grow very much in appreciation over the long term (these are usually properties in C neighborhoods or areas that dont have much growth upside), properties that you invest in for primarily the appreciation (areas like NYC which wont earn you hardly any cashflow in the short to medium term, but in the long term the value of the property is worth a lot more) or a hybrid of the two.  For me I have to look 3 or so hours away at properties to even consider getting a decent return on them, but it is worth it if I can use the monthly rent as a form of income. 

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Right now im looking only at properties that will give me cash returns but wont really appreciate in value, primarily because I dont care about appreciation of the underlying asset in the long run. For me the income and ability to pay off the debt or buy more properties and have my income grow is the goal. Even if I have property managers I will still have to do some work but that doesnt mean I cant get another job if I wanted to which is also a benefit. If you are a high income earner, you might also be interested in property just because the tax benefits actually help offset your own income a bit. Im still not a huge fan of having to leverage myself and buy multiple properties with mortgages rather than one outright, but that is the price if you want to diversify. As long as you save for unforeseen events and save some cash reserves you should be fine. 

Maybe I will talk more about property in the future and some of the more specifics on how to do it, but I did want to talk about how I can change my mind if I learn more on a certain subject. Opening my mind to real estate as an investment is not the first time I have opened my mind to something and hopefully will be the last. I think as we grow older we get set in our ways, but we need to be able to change and evaluate something given the new information we have. Hopefully you make a conscious decision to try and evolve as much as you can in the future. 

-Calaber24p