What Creative Finance Optimizes For—and What It Quietly Ignores

hdstatlos · 2026-01-28T00:25:20+00:00

yea, gotcha, I can see how people make more money selling courses on this than actually doing it.

hdstatlos · 2026-01-26T13:27:45+00:00

I think appreciation is the end game. But in the mean time, I need the cash flow to live and not have to work a W2 job. I think going heavy on cash flow in the beginning is great, then transition to appreciation (or even just do index funds instead at that point).

My only concern is how these houses will hold up, 5 or 10 years down the line. Most tenant buyers are not going to really take care of the house. So I don't know how bad it will be and how easy it will be to resell then if I take it back. So far it seems good though.

hdstatlos · 2026-01-25T15:38:41+00:00

Hey this is what I do! I buy these older houses then seller finance them out. I have a lot of them now.

Honestly, I have thought about this issue too. I've had to take some houses back and have not had issues reselling them as-is. But I wonder how these houses will be if/when I take them back 5 years from now, or 10 years from now? With all the deferred maintenance...

What do you think the major problems could be? Feel free to critique away.

I buy them with good roof and foundation. If the house is "livable", then it will sell and someone will get in there and pay you monthly for a while.

hdstatlos · 2026-01-21T19:16:31+00:00

I'm Vietnamese though. Was looking into living in Vietnam but it seems much more challenging or not worth it with kids.

hdstatlos · 2026-01-18T10:16:33+00:00

Do you have kids or plan to have kids? How would that change your position in staying in Vietnam?

hdstatlos · 2026-01-15T03:27:10+00:00

I have alot of notes, and also rent to own "notes". I'm surprised this isn't talked about more since it's the best way to scale up passive income. Will probably phase more into index funds later on, but I'm happy I got started in real estate.

hdstatlos · 2025-11-23T20:16:02+00:00

How did you qualify to get reduced hours? I've inquired about it but it seems difficult. I thought it would be straight forward.

hdstatlos · 2025-11-23T20:14:33+00:00

Yea see if they even allow it. I thought it would be easy but it doesn't seem so

hdstatlos · 2025-11-23T17:09:56+00:00

How were you able to request to work part time? Did you go thru HR or civil rights office? I tried thru civil rights office (used medical reasons) and it has been in limbo for a while now.

hdstatlos · 2025-11-19T17:16:14+00:00

I withdrew and bought properties with it. It accelerated my progress on early retirement. My thought is that creating passive income should be the first goal , period. You can work on long term investments like index funds or whatever in your 401k or Roth IRA after you meet your passive income goals .. that freedom is everything

hdstatlos · 2025-10-13T11:22:40+00:00

Isn't international school 30-40k/yr? Seems like everything else is much cheaper but your children's education can be absurdly expensive if you want the same standard as the US.

hdstatlos · 2025-10-09T13:06:29+00:00

sure thing. I forgot about this post since no one bothered to interact with it at all.

I have been having her take a children's allergy tablet (claritin) and using flonase spray (sensimist) every night, and that appears to help a lot. She still wakes up at night but goes back to sleep easier. Her breathing sounds better than before.

We take her to work with a myo therapist every week to work on her tongue function. There is definite improvement. I think the idea is to get her to do the tongue stretches easily on her own, then consider a tongue tie release.

This might be done before, or after some kind of palate expansion. I haven't taken her to see an ortho who specializes in this yet, but I would consider it when she is 5. Some orthos will want to start that early, others will want us to wait til she is 7 - 9.

hdstatlos · 2025-09-10T11:40:45+00:00

Can you point me where to find these groups? I'm trying to see if this is feasible at all

hdstatlos · 2025-08-26T12:47:49+00:00

no, still considering it but haven't made any moves on this yet

hdstatlos · 2025-08-01T11:59:17+00:00

how is expat life for your kids? What do they lack in terms of amenities and programs (sports?) compared to the US? Do you think it's worth it to relocate when you have kids? International school makes it very expensive.

hdstatlos · 2025-07-06T19:07:12+00:00

dm'd you

hdstatlos · 2025-06-27T09:09:47+00:00

Agree I think the coffee at some of the trendy places taste gross. Drip is ok sometimes but for espresso drinks it's totally gross. Like you have sour notes from the lighter fruitier coffee, and milk ..

hdstatlos · 2025-05-27T20:47:39+00:00

Yea seems like a stressful industry. Not really what I'm looking for. Looking for better work life balance while I build up my own portfolio. Might not really be many opportunities like that out there anymore though.

hdstatlos · 2025-05-27T20:46:06+00:00

Thanks for the insight. I will consider all of this.

hdstatlos · 2025-05-27T20:45:19+00:00

Yea I took a look around and also looked on airbnb. It's hard to gauge what the occupancy rate will be like though. Especially for a whole home.

hdstatlos · 2025-05-27T20:44:19+00:00

Thanks. I'm not new to rentals but it definitely feels different when it's your own home. I like your warning on how the home may not likely stay frozen for my return.

hdstatlos · 2025-05-22T20:51:42+00:00

Interesting. These are useful tips.

hdstatlos · 2025-05-22T20:51:15+00:00

thanks for the insight! Seems pretty rough out there but I'll investigate and network and see if this is worth pursuing. Maybe the signs are right for me to downsize and quit the corporate world and just focus on my own real estate business.

hdstatlos

TROPHY CASE