“You will own nothing and be happy.” This thought process comes from the higher beings inside our governments, businesses, and military.
Why is this quote so important to the middle-class family? Because we must be wary of how things slowly play out to fulfill this new reality.
We used to buy physical products such as VHS tapes, Blu-rays, and CDs. Now, we stream everything. This means we constantly pay to access someone else’s media library.
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The Netflix of housing. I was roughly 27 or 28 when Netflix started its streaming service. Wow, the movies that they streamed were awful. But it was cool to have a library of content at your fingertips.
Fast forward to today, and everything is about streaming. I recently purchased a monthly Xbox Game Pass subscription for $15/per month.
Even if I use the platform for five years (a total of $900), I will own nothing if I stop paying them. If I had purchased old Blu-rays at $10/each, I would own 90.
People, the “powers that be,” are doing the same thing to the real estate market. Investors and businesses are buying all the houses around your neighborhood.
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What happens if an entity (real estate trust, private equity, banks, foreign investors) owns all the properties in one neighborhood? They control rent prices—no deals, no discounts, no hookups, and no remorse.
Renting and never owning. Even more troubling is that they control property management companies as well. It is even more difficult to get into a rental property.
You may have to prove that everyone in the home earns 3X the rental amount, plus first/last, additional months, security deposit, and pet deposits for each pet.
It’s tough to buy a home or rent a place—so what’s an average person to do? Stop being average. The world is shifting so that the average person no longer gets anything.
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Renting will be much more expensive than owning very soon. And because of interest rates, saving and paying for a home will be challenging. Each day, housing is becoming less affordable. So, let’s work on achieving something special.
Become special to own your home. We all have talent. We are all creative. And we all have the ability to use discipline to get ahead. So why do so many of us flounder in adulthood?
Because people throw around words like mental health, quiet quitting, happiness, and work balance—these words throw you off your game.
To make it in this world, you must persist through some form of hardship. There is no easy way to achieve without sacrifice.
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I have a successful marriage of 17 years, two great boys, three homes, a massive dividend portfolio, and a book business—do you believe it was easy to accomplish these feats?
I spent 50% of my marriage away in foreign lands, woke up in the middle of the night to write books, and lived far below my means. These are all things the media tells you to avoid.
To save for a down payment and afford the monthly payments on a home, you must do something extraordinary.
What is something special? Luckily, everyone can do something great. It only takes willpower, a great work ethic, and iron-clad determination.
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But let’s talk specifics. What’s the best way to own a home today? Get a high-paying remote job and move to Alabama.
Yes, I am serious. Let’s say you find a remote job making $100,000/year. The picture above is an expensive home in Foley, Alabama. You can find a better price if you move away from the city.
This home requires a down payment of $60,000, with a monthly mortgage of $1,600. You would be earning over $8,000/month.
Even better, you could get a roommate to pay you $1,000/month in rent. You can invest in the capital markets (stocks and bonds) with your additional cash flow.
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Before you know it, you have $400,000 in savings and an additional cash flow of $3,000/month from dividends. What can you do now? Buy another house.
No one wants to move to Alabama. The sad reality is that no one wants to move to Alabama. It’s hard to leave a place like San Diego and move to Foley, Alabama.
I moved from San Diego to a small city named Pensacola, FL (about one hour from Foley). I live an extraordinary life near white-sand beaches and military bases.
I have everything I want in life because of a location change. Surprisingly, remote work gives you an even better opportunity to achieve homeownership.
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You don’t have to do something world-changing to own a home; you just need to shift your mindset to ownership.
You versus the world. The world wants you to rent forever. If you read a property management book like “The Book on Managing Rental Properties,” you will understand the end goal.
The property manager’s goal is to raise the rent every single year. Even if their costs don’t increase, they will raise the rent to “train” you for rent increases.
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It’s the same for self-storage owners. They will keep raising the rent for you each year. The longer you stay in your rental or use self-storage, the poorer you become.
The best way to break the cycle is to make an earth-shattering change, like moving to Alabama. I was 38 years old when I made the change.
Change is challenging but necessary. I had a decent job earning over $100,000/year, but I couldn’t randomly take my family to Applebee’s (without using credit cards).
Finally, enough was enough. We got roommates, started investing in dividends, paid off all our debts, and lived below our means.
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A short four years later, we are sitting pretty. Last month, we earned $1,800 in dividends alone. The good part is that our hard work transfers to our children.
Both my kids have a house to call their own if they choose. They don’t have to endure the rat race as much as we did. We paid it forward so that they could push the family along in different ways.
Conclusion. Remember that “they” are slowly taking ownership away from us. It’s not that they have evil intentions—it’s just easy to influence the masses.
The Magic of Dollar-Cost Averaging
Now, homeownership looks out of reach for the average person. That’s because most people want a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in San Diego that costs $1.8 million.
However, the same home costs $300,000 in Foley, Alabama. We all must decide what core values we instill in ourselves.
What’s more important, living in San Diego or owning a home? Buying a home in Foley can fast-track you to eventually purchasing a home in San Diego in 20 years.
Renting in San Diego for 20 years will fast-track you to being poor and owning nothing. It’s an easy choice for me, but you must decide your path. Good Luck!
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