UPDATE 2: we ended up selling this portfolio in mid-2019. It is no longer available. UPDATE: as of October 2018, we decided to keep these properties, deciding instead to change property management companies. ====== With properties in four cities and internationally, it is time to streamline. Our Indianapolis rental investment portfolio is our strongest-performing group from a cash flow perspective. However, we have five properties in Indianapolis, which is more than we would like to manage. Indianapolis is also the furthest city from where we generally travel. Read here for more of our rationale on selling these properties. Our properties [...]

We had a few hours to kill on Sunday and the weather was finally starting to turn a little cooler. We've been pleasantly surprised at all of the great places we've found to visit within an hour of our apartment, and we were hoping to find another one. Google Maps searching turned up the Donald M Kendall Sculpture Gardens, which is in Purchase, New York, on the grounds of the PepsiCo world headquarters.

After a year of being focused on the 'hosting' side of AirBNB, this week I was able to focus a little bit on the 'travelling' side of AirBNB! We'll be spending a few days in Portland Maine in the end of September for the Maine Marathon. Since hotels are expensive we found a great AirBNB. Read on for tips on how to narrow the fire-hose down to a just few options that would be perfect for you.

We just completed a bathroom renovation for our primary residence in New York City. Updating our 5x8 bathroom set us back almost $15,000! We replaced everything, so labor is the bulk of the cost. Our fixtures and finishes are pretty standard, and this kept the total budget down – yes, $15,000 is still a standard bathroom renovation for NYC. You can find a handy remodel calculator on HomeAdvisor. Did we need to renovate our bathroom? $15,000 is a down payment on a rental investment in some parts of the US. It is a year of tuition at a public college [...]

We were in Houston because Caroline was a featured speaker at the AAJA conference. Since she spent time each day at sessions of the conference, and I spent time working on my own things, we didn't have time to fully get out and explore, but we did find the time to do something interesting every day. We explored the Japanese Garden, caught a game at Minute Maid Park, and enjoyed a great local restaurant.

Travelling the world has always been a dream for us. Once we set it as one of our life-goals, along with establishing location-independent business ventures, we knew we would get there some day. We still have a long way to go to fulfill the dream, but we are on the path, the journey ahead is becoming clearer, and meditation has played a big role! A few years before Scott officially left his traditional office job, we started to at least plan for our around the world adventure, doing what we could while still tethered to his nine-to-five onsite schedule. Actual travel [...]

Last year, Caroline and I took a trip to England with our younger daughter over her spring break. We've been wanting to take a trip to Europe for quite some time, with the intent of exploring some countryside and sights outside the big cities and looking forward to going at our own pace and interest by renting a car and driving around. We settled on England because Manchester is where we found the cheapest flights during the holiday week to an area we wanted to visit in Europe. We knew we wanted to see Stonehenge, as well as hit a [...]

When we bought our first international rental property (Condo Boom in Tamarindo, Costa Rica), we decided to do a cash-out refi of another investment property to buy it all cash. Damn Millennial asked us a question on Twitter that we also asked ourselves: Out of curiosity why did you choose the cash out refi over the Heloc? The way I understand it the cash out is more expensive isn't it? As you must refinance the total amount and then pay fees on that. Vs. HELOC you just pay for appraisal and opening a line. Oh, Damn Millennial, I mulled over [...]

Flexibility to accommodate mid-week movies is one of my favorite perks of the FIRE lifestyle. This past Tuesday, I took my youngest daughter to an advance screening of “Crazy Rich Asians”, including an Asian-American business pre-show talk, by Nielsen, and an Asian food-themed after-party. A few years earlier, I took my oldest daughter to an advance screening of “Today’s Special” including a talkback with the movie’s star and creator, Aasif Mandvi. This was a mid-week adventure during a school night, but it was a unique opportunity (we were huge Daily Show fans at the time) and educational in a different [...]