Back in 2017, I had a very difficult decision to make. My rowdy tenants gave notice and I had to decide whether to sell my rental property or try and find new tenants.

The house had been rented between 2014 – 2017 for $8,200 – $8,800 a month. But when I went to find new tenants at a similar rent in 2017, none were to be found. Instead, I got a couple of offers for only $7,500 a month after 45 days of looking.

Because my tenant situation gave me stress and my son was just born, I really felt that 2017 was a good time to sell. Further, I was running up against the $500,000 tax-free profit exclusion limit.

Earlier, in 2012, I had tried to sell the house for $1.7 million and received zero offers. My agent at the time told me one couple was looking to lowball me at $1.5 million and I told them don’t bother. Fast forward five years, I was able to find my one and only offer for $2.75 million so I took it.

After paying fees, taxes, and the $800,000 mortgage, I was left with about $1,800,000 in proceeds. Over the next 60 days, I invested $600,000 into dividend-paying stocks, $600,000 into CA municipal bonds, $550,000 into real estate crowdfunding, and left ~$50,000 in cash.

So far, the reinvested proceeds have done well. But most of all, the reinvested proceeds have provided a greater amount of passive income with minimal work on my part. I’m extremely thankful I was able to free up time since mid-2017 to be a stay at home dad.

I’m also thankful to the FS community for sharing their thoughts about whether or not to sell back in 2017. After over 1,000 votes, 75% of you said sell, which gave me added confidence to let my once beloved property go.

In this post, I will argue that a golden opportunity to buy real estate is once again upon us. My spidey senses are telling me it’s time to buy at least one property before January 1, 2021.

After I finish telling you why I’m getting bullish on real estate, I’d love for those of you who are bearish to blow my arguments to smithereens.

For the record, I believe the best holding period for real estate is forever. By not selling, real estate owners ride the unstoppable inflation wave and never have to pay any onerous commissions and long term capital gains tax. But forever is a long time.

10 years ago, I had the mindset of buying as many investment properties as possible in order to generate enough rental income to never have to work a day job again. I was enamored with using other people’s money to buy a real asset that tended to rise in value over time.

Further, I loved receiving a steady rental income stream that was used to pay down the money I borrowed from the bank. To capture 100% of economic benefits with only a 20% down payment felt too good to be true, so I pressed as hard as I could.

Today, as a father, I no longer have the same tolerance for dealing with tenants and maintenance issues. Funny how our attitudes change as we age. Don’t believe for one second your attitudes about work, life, and money won’t change either.

After a tremendous run up in property prices, I’ve noticed more people starting to inquire when to sell. As for your primary residence, please try to hold on for as long as possible. If you are a renter, this post will give you a good idea of the seller’s mindset when it’s your turn to finally buy. 

Dreaming is the best since it’s fun and free to do. At least once a month, I dream that I can fly. The best is when you know you’re dreaming. That’s when things get really interesting.

Daydreaming as a young lad helped me achieve some goals, like getting a job in finance and starting a lifestyle business once I escaped it. Today, my biggest dream is to live long enough to see my son grow up happy and healthy.

Although dreams often don’t come true, there’s one dream that comes true for us every year. And that dream is living in an $18 million mega-mansion.

The property is on acres of prime land with not a neighbor in sight. In the morning I play tennis on the grounds behind the mango trees. In the afternoon, we take a dip in the pool before soaking in the outdoor hot tub to rest our achy muscles. After a nap, I’ll work on an article for the upcoming week.

And here you were thinking creating content wasn’t a lucrative occupation! Forget being a banker, venture capitalist, lawyer, or techie. It’s very hard to get rich working for someone else.

Blogging and vlogging is where it’s at! The recent 3,000 kid survey by LEGO and The Harris Poll is true.

OK, let me be frank. Financial Samurai is too small of a website to allow me to own such a luxurious property. My old friend owns it.

In this article, I thought it’d be fun to share with you what it’s like to live in such a place. For the sake of privacy, I’m going to use pictures from other similar properties at a similar price point.

Part of the reason why I bought a smaller house in 2014 was because I wasn’t willing to rent my own house for the market price at that time of ~$8,500/month. The price to rent my house had grown from about $5,000/month when I first bought it in 2005. If I had a couple kids and a penchant for throwing tons of money away on rent, then maybe I would have stayed.

To optimize my finances, I figured the best thing to do was to buy a new house more suitable to my house-spending desires (~$5,000/month max) and rent out my old house at market to those willing to pay $8,500/month in rent. This way, economic waste is eliminated, and everybody is happy.

Conduct the same mental exercise with your existing home. If you haven’t rented in a while, you may be surprised by how much your primary residence can command for rent in the open market. The cost of living in your home isn’t the actual money you are spending to live there. The actual cost is the opportunity cost of not renting it out at market rate.

Let me share with you why it’s important to follow the real estate investment rule of Buy Utility, Rent Luxury (BURL) if you want to maximize your lifestyle and your net worth. We’ve had a wonderful run since ~2012, which is why it’s more important than ever to pay attention to this rule.