Week 20 of Real Estate Investing:

I felt like I spent most of the week answering calls about my car. In the end, I was finally able to sell it. That was a relief. No more dealing with tire kickers. It also adds extra financial security which is nice, but mostly eliminates the future expenses of tabs, insurance, tires, maintenance, etc. and allows us to pay off the family vehicle which amounts to a nice boost in net income (lowered expenses = greater net income). With Brock going back to preschool, the costs pretty much offset which is a net win in my book. Again, the goal of the "game" is to stay liquid long enough to see income from Storage Garages of Hudson kick in. We will be fine but I do know that selling my car now will be easier than selling it mid-winter if need arose. Our philosophy was that it's better to be proactive. 
Houlton Storage Garages: Added a few renters and we've gotten a lot of interest lately. It was getting a little worrisome if I do say so myself. Not much in the way of calls or interest this summer. But after looking at last year's financials and doing some reflecting, last year was the same way. Summers are just slow. Contractors are cranking away and people in general are just busy with life in the summer. So with that we have 2 large unheated units available and 1 small unheated which will likely get rented next week. 
Storage Garages of Hudson: Building #1 has a foundation as of Friday. Yippee. It will get backfilled next week and we'll be able to start on the floor later next week. That is great. I'm still expecting that we'll get the first building up by the end of September (or very close). Just in time to store some boats and RVs for the winter. 
Additionally I've been doing what I can to figure out social media marketing on Facebook and Instagram. We will be filming a commercial in two weeks for our RV and boat storage in Hudson. Should be interesting. Naturally we will be sharing this on FB. Any feedback will be much appreciated if you are so inclined. 
With the commercial we have also been working through getting flyers out to marinas and getting the artwork completed for business cards and our sign in Hudson. Still need to work through the name in Hudson but I think it's going to be Storage Garages of Hudson to eliminate any confusion with our nearby neighbor. I'd hate to give him any undeserved business! Ha. This is a bit of a joke because I don't think our businesses compete at all. He does mini, we do maxi. Anyhow, on to something that matters. 
Other: Spent a good part of the week analyzing other deals that I'd be partnering with others on. One mini storage, a few warehouse buildings and also entertaining the idea of selling Houlton Storage Garages. Not sure if we're ready for that step but it would provide for an injection of capital into our business. However, it also takes away the monthly cashflow which is the reason why we chose to invest in real estate in the first place. But if we could parlay that equity into some other assets that make us a better return, it might be worth it. I am constantly considering our returns on invested capital and our returns on equity that we have in our properties. If the equity gets large in comparison to our returns, it might be time to sell and reinvest to get more return for each dollar of equity. But many real estate investors are talking of a potential downturn and that's where equity can protect us. So we're continuing to weigh the pluses and minuses of this option. I think what will happen instead is we'll find another property to partner with this person on. But it is interesting to consider all of the options.