And while I was worried that we might experience buyer’s remorse, I’m pleased to report that absolutely has not happened. We love our home and we love Corvallis. How could we not?<\/p>\n
Corvallis is the best biking city in the state of Oregon. (Yes, even better than Portland.) Our home isn’t a walker’s paradise, but it is<\/em> within range of two grocery stores and a handful of restaurants. Corvallis has hardly any traffic congestion. The town is surrounded by forested foothills filled with hiking trails. Every day, we have squirrels and deer and wild turkey in our yard. There are two off-leash dog parks nearby. Our neighbors are super friendly.<\/p>\n I could go on, but I won’t. You get the picture.<\/p>\n We had high expectations for Corvallis, but so far the city has exceeded them. I’m not kidding. This is exactly<\/em> what Kim and I were looking for during our three-month search for a new place to live. It’s our Stars Hollow<\/a>.<\/p>\n And our home, while ginormous for two people, has also exceeded our expectations. Sometimes it feels as if it was custom-designed for the two of us and our lifestyle. Early days yet, I know, but after six weeks we’re pleased.<\/p>\n Kim and I also like that we’ve already begun building friendships in town. I’ve spent some time with Jeff from The Happy Philosopher<\/a>, for instance, and Kim does weekly dog walks with one of the neighbors. Last weekend, we enjoyed happy hour with our real-estate agent and his wife.<\/p>\n Michael and Rae have lived in Corvallis for maybe ten or twelve years. In that time, they stumbled on the idea of “financial freedom” without ever discovering the burgeoning FIRE movement. (FIRE is a clumsy acronym for “financial independence<\/a> and early retirement”.) Like many others who eventually find FIRE, these two invented their own version in a vacuum.<\/p>\n Michael and Rae have been slowly building a tiny real-estate empire, which currently comprises six homes. They’ll buy a place, live in it while making improvements, then rent it out when they’re ready to buy another property. Their goal, which they’re approaching, is for the cash flow from their rentals to cover their monthly expenses.<\/p>\n Last week, over cocktails and appetizers at Magenta<\/a>, Kim and I grilled Michael and Rae about their experience.<\/p>\n “Now that we’ve settled here in Corvallis, we’ve begun to talk about the idea of buying rental properties ourselves,” I said.<\/p>\n “I just turned 49,” Kim said. “My years as a dental hygienist are starting to take their toll. My back hurts. My shoulder hurts. My wrist hurts. I want to find a way to earn money without killing myself.”<\/p>\n Michael nodded. “We’re happy to share what we know,” he said. “But you need to understand that this isn’t some magical path to wealth. It’s work. Maybe not the same kind of work you do now, but it’s work. And it takes time to build an income stream.”<\/p>\n “I get it,” Kim said. “I get it. It sounds like you guys have it figured out. Didn’t you tell us that you’re renting only to college students? And that they come back year after year after year?”<\/p>\n “We don’t rent only<\/em> to college students,” Rae said, “but it’s mostly students. Right now, one of our six homes is rented to a ‘normal’ family. But you’re right. We’ve been lucky to have low tenant turnover.”<\/p>\n “We try to maintain long-term relationships with our tenants,” Michael said. “We don’t want to be their friends, but we do want to have good communication. We want them come back every school year. Often that means we don’t raise their rent. Or, when we do, it’s a very small increase.”<\/p>\n “That’s smart,” Kim said. “It makes your tenants more loyal and prevents turnover. Turnover is probably tough.”<\/p>\n “It is,” Michael agreed. “We’d rather keep our tenants in place at rents slightly below market rate than deal with turnover every year. When somebody moves out, then we can move things to match the market. Besides, building strong relationships with our tenants seems to help keep them motivated to care for the place. And<\/em> we’re starting to see it helps when their siblings come to school in Corvallis. They contact us because their brother or sister had a good experience with us.”<\/p>\n “I like your ethical approach,” I said. “And listening to you talk about this makes me want to learn more about real-estate investing.”<\/p>\n “You know that I want to learn about it,” Kim said. “I’ve been saying that for years.” (She has!)<\/p>\n “You know,” I said, “many of my colleagues are into real-estate investing. I’ve talked with them about it, even though I haven’t ever pursued it for myself. Do you read any of the real-estate blogs?”<\/p>\n “Not really,” Michael said. “I’m familiar with Paula Pant at Afford Anything<\/a>, though. I like her stuff.”<\/p>\n![\"My](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bisbee-turkeys.jpg\" "\\"My")
<\/p>\nA Tiny Real-Estate Empire<\/h2>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/lovesky-properties.jpg\" "\\"Michael")
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