How I Became a Millionaire

A Closer Look at Some Number

I'll give you a general idea of my pay scale. These numbers are what the highest pay was during that time. To get to that pay, we would usually have about 3 increases to get there from the previous high amount. 1997 to 2001 $17.50 / 2001 to 2005 $20.00 / 2005 to 2010 $24.00 / 2010 to 2015 $26.00 / 2015 to 2020 $30.00
After 2008, we had agreed to give up about 2 weeks of pay per yr. for the next couple of yrs. due to the economic crash.
I did have good health insurance that was very reasonably priced for me.
Our mortgage was about $1,200 at the time. I decided to buy another house around 2001. I purchased it for $85,000 and it needed basically cosmetic work. It was simply a tired looking house and I was itching to do some improvements. I actually lived there a couple yrs. At the time, I was operating on light rail side and my commute time from the new house was a whopping 5 min.
I spent about $20,000 fixing it up, doing most of the work myself. I was getting tired of working during the week and on the weekends. It was looking nice, and the improvements paid off.
I put it up for sale in 2006 and sold it for $220,000 dollars. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I made a little more than $100,000 dollars. We used some money to pay off our cars. I think we owed about $25,000 on both. We put the rest into savings and cd's. Not a long time later, I found out that our family friend who was renting their condo to my mother, was getting a divorce. They needed to sell the condo and I was given a choice. I could purchase it for $140,000 and I would basically become my mom's landlord. Or, I could find another place for my mom to live.
I decided to purchase it, because I liked the fact that all the neighbors looked out for my mom and it was a nice area.
Well, she passed away a short time later..... then the 2008 came crashing down. My $140,000 condo was now worth about $70,000
I had kept the rent the same for my mom, once I became her landlord... witch was $600 a month. I think my hoa dues was about $125 a month. I had paid cash for it, using the money from the house sale and adding some from savings to it.

I find this interesting, I paid $140,000 and lost half my money...$70,000 when I sold it. YET, I gained about $200 a month. I was getting $600 a month in rent. I took that $70,000 and added $15,000 and purchased a condo closer to me for $85,000 and charged $800 a month in rent. I still own the condo and now charge $1,200 a month.
On paper I lost money, but in reality it really wasn't bad. Several yrs. have passed and the condos go for $185,000.

A little while after purchasing the condo, we bought a small rental house near us. My other half had been scanning the real estate listings for some time. He seen this property come up, we went over there, liked it and told them we'll get it inspected and if all goes good, we'll give you a cash offer.
The inspection went well, we offered $81,000 cash. They agreed and the deal was done. We had put about $30,000 into it for repairs. It's now worth about $340,000.