Life with Invisible Wounds

Invisible Wounds Are Undefined

More often than not, we go through life thinking that we have absolute control. Not many people believe that there is a way out when it comes to mental illness, especially when the stigma is out there loud and clear, almost like it is screaming at you. That stigma has many confused and blinded on the definition of mental illness. When we try and describe our “disability”, many automatically think that it has to do with our outer core. They start looking for a broken bone. They don’t realize that it is our inner core that is a little shattered; those invisible wounds. We did not choose what happened to us. We didn’t choose the nightmares, the out of control tears, the trigger. We did not choose this life. 

Be Careful With Your Words

I am here to tell you to always be cognizant of your words. You never know who you can hurt. Someone somewhere is going through something that we do not always...

Sell Your Home, Even in Winter

Selling your home is an exciting time, but it doesn't have to be stressful! There are easy and free ways to make sure that your home is appealing to both buyers and agents alike. Follow these "3 D's" to get your home sold fast!

De-Personalize

Why? When buyers enter your home and see your personal effects, they have a difficult time visualizing themselves living there. A clean, neutral space will serve as a blank canvas for buyers!

For example: Early in my career, I was showing homes on the upper east side of Salt Lake. The home showings were going well and I was having a great time with my clients. We were on the last showing and I thought this home was perfect for my clients. It had the right bedroom count, bathroom count, great lot, fenced-in yard, and so many more options. We walked in and one of my clients veered off to go upstairs to check out the master bedroom. I thought nothing of it, she has shown herself 12 homes before this one. Suddenly,...

Building Efficiencies

Why are real estate investors called investors in the first place? What's the difference between folks like us who buy low and sell high and John Smith who buys a nice home for his family and sells for appreciation 30 years down the road? On the surface, the concept is the same. Most investors eventually taste the sweet nectar of appreciation when they execute their exit strategy. Similarly, John Smith will pay down the debt on his house and be sitting on a fat stack of equity which he can leverage.

According to Investopedia.com, an investor is "any person or entity who commits capital with the expectation of receiving financial returns". John Smith may end up with some financial returns, but his primary concern is to provide shelter for his family. As investors, though we are also providing shelter for people and/or businesses, we are primarily concerned with our financial return. Risk is everywhere. Returns mitigate risk and provide opportunities. With...

Fast Foundations

I decided to actively pursue passive income (ironic, right?) in September 2018, when the ADPI Founding Five released the Military Real Estate Investing Academy, Rapid Deploy, and #StartTheSpark programs.  As a 2011 minted Robert Kyosaki/Rich Dad Poor Dad truther, I KNEW that this was what I wanted to do, but the call to action was delivered by ADPI. These new offerings were a direct line to the education I was looking for to get moving! 

Throughout a 7-week work trip, I plowed through the MREIA. I woke up early to squeeze in a 30-minute course, recap and digest it over lunch, then try to push for a second lesson in the evening – MREIA two-a-days. Would I recommend force-feeding yourself like that? No.  Am I glad I did it? ABSOLUTELY! 

My situation required MASSIVE action, and this was how I was going to stake my claim to financial freedom.  There were books, websites, and other publications that were consumed before the course and all...

Parental Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Hello, ADPI family. This is Eric’s Mom, Pam Watts, and I’m here to talk about what I call P-TSS (Parental Traumatic Stress Syndrome), or

"That Time Your Mom Thought She Might Be Crazy"

Unlike the traumatic stress a soldier may experience upon returning stateside, their parents may suffer from what I call P-TSS. I could not explain the disconnected feelings, yet when Eric returned home and described some of the challenges of his integration from military life, it struck me I had some issues of my own.

While Eric was deployed overseas, I sometimes felt invisible, as if I trod a parallel path that only sometimes merged with the one traveled by those around me. I worked; I had a full life. But, as a military mom, in the back of my mind was a persistent fear I felt might come true if I spoke it aloud; so I did not.

A Parent's Battle

In the beginning, I read about basic training and found a detailed description of SERE on the internet (bad,...

VA Loan Facts

Did you know there are over 21 million veterans and nearly 1.35 million active-duty military who could be eligible to purchase a home with a VA loan? However, many do not understand how it works which prevents them from trying to obtain homeownership. Here are a few facts to help:

 1. No down payment or mortgage insurance

One of the biggest advantages! You don’t need a down payment. Most mortgage programs require at least 3.5 percent to five percent down. A huge savings for our veterans!

With a VA loan, you also avoid steep mortgage insurance fees. At 5 percent down, private mortgage insurance (PMI) costs can be $150 per month or more on a $250,000 home, depending on the buyer’s credit score. This buyer could afford a home worth $30,000 more with the same monthly payment - simply by eliminating PMI. Using a VA loan saves you money upfront and increases your buying power.

2. Use your benefit more than once

You have a total entitlement of $484,350 in El...

Top 12 Need-To-Know REI Acronyms Explained

Kevin Brenner, ADPI Hero, Capt, USAF / @investorkev

“Education is the  foundation upon which we build our future.”

- Christine Gregoire

It’s 3 PM and you are sitting in your underwear on the weird wax paper that drapes the patient benches of nearly every doctor’s office in the country.  It’s been a solid 30 minutes and you’ve pretty much got the informational poster on heart disease memorized.  

Finally, your doctor, clipboard in hand, swings the door open and hits you with a cheesy greeting.  It’s just a routine physical, nothing to be worried about. You run through all the basic tests and answer the standard family history questions.  Before you leave you run a few medical questions by your physician.  Normal right. I think so too. Well, what if, your doctor had trouble explaining, oh I don’t know, anything at all relating to your health questions?...

Multifamily Bootcamp with Rod Khleif

If you have been in real estate investing forums or listening to popular podcasts, you have likely heard about the Multifamily Bootcamp presented by Rod Khleif. In May, I had my first experience with him and Multifamily Bootcamp. My honest review is mixed.

Review

The Bootcamp is a 3-day event in which you are flooded with real estate knowledge, motivational videos, gifts, networking, and sales pitches. In general, it is a very positive environment. There are people from all over the USA that are coming together to learn and discuss real estate - that’s powerful. The networking alone is worth the price of admission, which is around $300. For the sake of full disclosure, I only made it to the first 2 days. I got food poisoning and couldn’t make it out of the house for Day 3.

Without spoiling any surprises to future conference-goers, you may receive a few surprises in the first 2 days. Rod is generous to the people at the conference. I...

Trauma and the Effects on Life and Military Service

by Nate Nomichith

Trauma is Multifarious

Trauma comes in many different forms and almost always has some life long affects on daily living. The experiences that we endure throughout our life are permanent and cannot be taken away. We tend to hang on to and reflect on the positive experience in our lives and often we repress some of the bad experiences. The result of burying our trauma has uncontrolled side effects that manifest in many different forms.

What you will read next is my personal experience with trauma, how it has affected my life, my service to my country in the military, and the journey to healing from my experiences.

My father migrated from a country in the southeast Pacific in the late 70's, post-Vietnam war. One of the things that he brought with him was the way that he was raised and was disciplined. So, for the first 16 years of my life, I suffered from intense physical abuse.

Trauma Can Shape You

Through my...

by Kevin Brenner, ADPI Hero, Capt, USAF / @investorkev

Everyone Sucks

Your day is finally here.  You’ve made it to the Big Show.  Coach taps you to close the game out in the bottom of the 9th inning with the bases loaded. The pressure is palpable as your team is only up by one run.  Here’s the problem, you’ve never thrown a baseball in your life. You wind up with a nice leg kick, lean in, and fire a 24 MPH fastball that barely makes it halfway to home plate.  The entire stadium erupts in raucous laughter.  Well, this didn’t go according to plan...     

The cold hard truth is that everyone sucks the first time they try something.  This applies to all facets of life, including real estate investing. You can read 10,000 books and still make silly mistakes.  So what do you do - curl up into a ball and cry. Probably not the most effective solution to your problems. Believe it or not, most people actually...