I moved to CO in September of 2014 after having spent seventeen years surfing in CA. A combination of things led to the move:
Surfing had become a chore, akin to sitting in a traffic jam. You wait your turn to go and someone, too often, would squeeze into your wave/lane.
I would be patient and surf my spot for months before it got a great day and BAM! Everyone and their cell phones reaches out and SLAM! gridlock.
My ear was a liability and surgery was at least necessary on it, though likely on both.
I had burned out in a major way on real estate. It's a great line of work and I am thankful to have done well, thanks to my loyal clients, but there was a lot of burn-through with overhead (starting my own brokerage mitigated this somewhat) and self-employment taxes. I had a couple of incidents which sapped my mojo for the game.
We had the opportunity to join a start-up in CO, where I could use many of the skills I'd honed in real estate while getting a consistent check. There was also the chance of much more should things go well, which could conceivably have helped us retire before turning 40.
About fourteen months ago, we made a plan to liquidate our CA holdings (condo in Cardiff where this blog was founded; Oside house where this blog was last updated) and do a tax-deferred exchange into a commercial property. Aaron, who is featured on the first-ever post on this blog, was instrumental in helping me sell our CA properties on a major bro-basis and we are now in escrow on a commercial property which will generate income.
At some point in the near future, we will likely be moving down south. Depending on when we go, we may have enough cash with which to buy a lot and build. If we go early, I can use my Spanish and real estate pedigree to generate funds.
I don't have the desire to accumulate wealth. I've long heard time is money but I think that is wrong. You can generate more money but time is an ever-dwindling asset. I'd like to live simply and give our girls plenty of our time rather than remain in the US and watch our income be decimated by bills, inflation, and taxes. We are lucky to have sold both properties at a profit, especially the house, and our options have expanded as a result.
My ears have been surgically repaired (see future blog post for details) and I will be in the water again in March. We are traveling to Nicaragua in March, this time to the far south of the country.
Surfing had become a chore, akin to sitting in a traffic jam. You wait your turn to go and someone, too often, would squeeze into your wave/lane.
I would be patient and surf my spot for months before it got a great day and BAM! Everyone and their cell phones reaches out and SLAM! gridlock.
My ear was a liability and surgery was at least necessary on it, though likely on both.
I had burned out in a major way on real estate. It's a great line of work and I am thankful to have done well, thanks to my loyal clients, but there was a lot of burn-through with overhead (starting my own brokerage mitigated this somewhat) and self-employment taxes. I had a couple of incidents which sapped my mojo for the game.
We had the opportunity to join a start-up in CO, where I could use many of the skills I'd honed in real estate while getting a consistent check. There was also the chance of much more should things go well, which could conceivably have helped us retire before turning 40.
About fourteen months ago, we made a plan to liquidate our CA holdings (condo in Cardiff where this blog was founded; Oside house where this blog was last updated) and do a tax-deferred exchange into a commercial property. Aaron, who is featured on the first-ever post on this blog, was instrumental in helping me sell our CA properties on a major bro-basis and we are now in escrow on a commercial property which will generate income.
At some point in the near future, we will likely be moving down south. Depending on when we go, we may have enough cash with which to buy a lot and build. If we go early, I can use my Spanish and real estate pedigree to generate funds.
I don't have the desire to accumulate wealth. I've long heard time is money but I think that is wrong. You can generate more money but time is an ever-dwindling asset. I'd like to live simply and give our girls plenty of our time rather than remain in the US and watch our income be decimated by bills, inflation, and taxes. We are lucky to have sold both properties at a profit, especially the house, and our options have expanded as a result.
My ears have been surgically repaired (see future blog post for details) and I will be in the water again in March. We are traveling to Nicaragua in March, this time to the far south of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment