Posted by Michel -TX on February 24, 2001 at 18:34:52:
Hi! I had the same problem with my wife until I ran across this book: “RICH DAD,POOR DAD BY ROBERT T. KIYOSAKI”. Please, read it and have your spouse read it too. He will more likely change his mind and he will be more proactive toward your goals. PS: I’m in no way associated with the author. I can assure you it will change the way you look at your life. Good luck!
Going it Alone w/o spouse…can it b done? - Posted by Lisa Mc
Posted by Lisa Mc on February 24, 2001 at 15:55:04:
Well, I’ve just read a few posts and know this is where I’ll find some help and motivation!
I’m very interested in landlording and real estate. In fact I’m awaiting my CS course any day now. We currently have an apartment on our house and the monthly income is great! We managed to find an excellent tenant and it really makes me want to look for another house or two and start to build some equity and add to our monthly income.
My problem is that my husband, who is very handy, has a full-time job and I can tell he isn’t thrilled with the idea that he’d be the one to fix things all the time. I can do some of the work myself but I’m afraid if I have to start hiring someone to do all the little things that he can do for free - there go all the profits.
I really want to do this for our family but I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to succeed at this knowing that he’s not really behind me. I think a part of him likes that monthly income - but he’s reluctant because he knows it will involve him at some point!
Anybody else have to go it alone???
Thanks!
Lisa
So it’ll be Landladying - Posted by John J
Posted by John J on February 24, 2001 at 21:43:35:
It can certainly be done, but first let me share what happened in the 3 instances where I sold income properties to women. Two of them tried to run the buildings on their own and hired everything out. They had such a negativce cashflow that eventually they sold the buildings at a loss. The third one had counted on her unmotivated handyman husband to keep the places up. He did OK for about three weeks after which repairs were not done timely. Tenants became unhappy and would withhold rent, vacant units remained empty for a long time, etc. The stress of all this as well as the negative cashflow that resulted from their business practices started straining their relationship severely. Not only did she expect him to spend his spare time looking after the tenants and the toilets but part of his paycheck was starting to be used to “feed the alligator”. They ended up quitclaiming the property back to me, losing their $20K downpayment.
My recommendation to you, Lisa, is to committ to learning how to take care of routine maintenance yourself. Your husband can teach you how to repair faucets, change light bulbs, outlets, and windows, do wall repair and painting. There is not much that he knows how to do that you could not learn to handle yourself. Then if major non-routine repairs come up, such as furnaces or appliances, you can contract those out or have your husband do them and reward him accordingly, like it was a big deal. If you post your message on the Main News Group, you might get some responses from the landladies who participate there.