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SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE 652: I’M BAAAACK!
Retirement is definitely a new season in a person’s life. Some people embrace it. Others consider it a dirty word. And still others just ignore it. In this episode, Bill shares how he finally came to terms with his own retirement as he launched a 32-hour transplant road trip leaving California to move to beautiful Tennessee.
Hey fellow old dawgs! Man I have missed you guys!
However, hopefully you enjoyed some of my favorite episodes as we presented some of our “Best of…” shows while I embarked on a major move across the country from Southern California to Eastern Tennessee.
I never thought I would see that happen. As a second generation Californian, I was born in San Diego. My father was born in a place called Sutter’s Creek – a small mountain town in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas. The community takes its name from nearby Sutter Creek, which in turn has the name of an early California developer John Sutter (See! some early real estate influence in my history – that’s about it! Haha). Sutter’s discovery of gold at nearby Coloma in January 1848 triggered the famous California Gold Rush.
Well, my grandfather was one of many around the world who read stories of the great California Gold Rush and ended up migrating from Northern Italy with his family to “get rich” working in the gold mines. Which, unfortunately, he never did. He ended dying fairly early mostly from a lung disease caused by the dust in the mines – similar to black lung disease. My father also worked a little in the mines as a young boy (before child labor laws).
So, my California roots go pretty deep. We were pretty rooted in the state. I even went to Community College for two years in a town called Columbia, right next to Sutter Creek. And I so loved the school system (haha) that I attended multiple California colleges including Sacramento State, Cal State Northridge, USC, UCLA and Pepperdine. I just couldn’t get enough of that Cali education stuff.
So making the move was a big thing. We have wanted to move for a while but we were waiting for our youngest son, Kenny, to graduate from high school. (Kenny is the voice of the rapper in the background music in our Rap-it-Up segment.)
As you may recall, while I was a missionary in Haiti, with almost no retirement funds to speak of and not getting any younger, knew that our final days in Haiti were growing near. As I was pondering what I was going to do if I returned to the states and how I would survive, I found out about real estate investing. As I researched, and decided to make real estate the major part of my retirement plan, I ended up setting a goal – and that was to acquire/control/part own 1,000 units in 6 years.
This was the goal! And the point was to create enough cash flow to carry us for the rest of our lives and to leave a legacy for our children and children’s children.
It was a pretty simple plan: To double the number of units each year until I reached 1,000 units or doors. Well, that was it! Sure the plan had looks of turns, variations, changes – got involved with syndications – became a GP – but, by God’s amazing grace, I achieved my goal. The only difference was the final shape it took. I originally thought I would end up overseeing a large real estate portfolio and that would be it. I would generate the income from all the rentals. But, as I experienced landlording, property management, hunting down/acquiring/selling properties it looked more like a full-time job than retirement. In fact, it was much more than full-time! That’s where the biggest shift happened.
As my properties and investments exploded in value, I decided to make a major change. I decided to liquidate my assets and become a fully passive real estate investor. That way, outside of careful research and comprehensive due diligence, all I would have to do is oversee my portfolio and then I could finally be free to enjoy time with my wife, kids and grandkids.
So, that set in motion the rest of our plan. As much as we love California’s environment – the beaches, mountains, etc., we knew we didn’t want to stay for a number of reasons – most of which would take more than this podcast to explain.
So, on our 32nd anniversary, my wife Susette and I took off on a road trip (well, we flew mostly flew – but we drove a fair amount too) and visited three states that we had narrowed down that seemed to have the environment, tax advantages, cost-of-living, good spiritual community, etc. that met our criteria. We also wanted states that had favorable real estate investing laws and favorable investment markets should our kids want to join us (part of our devious master plot!) We narrowed down to Texas, Florida and Tennessee. After our trip and after much prayer and discussion Tennessee won!
So, we set the wheels in motion. Researched various communities and regions of Tennessee and Eastern Tennessee (a region running from Knoxville to Chattanooga) won out. Again, there’s a long list of reasons.
We found some Realtors and the leads started coming in. We started looking at houses almost a year out from our targeted move date. Then, we started making offers! From 10 acre farm houses to beautiful HOA communities – always getting out bid or finding a reason to not buy and then, in May of this year, we found a great Cape Cod style house and won the bid! I flew out to close on the house. My wife, unfortunately, didn’t even get to see it before the purchase – although she saw tons of video recorded by our long-time California friends who also moved here – the Ricci’s.
She did fly out with me shortly after the purchase and THANKFULLY loved the house!
It has been a great experience:
Had a few projects that we flew back and forth for:
- Drainage issue – French drain
- Tor down old deck and are building a new one
We decided to do the POD thing (explain)
Of course, on top of all the other chaos associated with moving, our move date – August 15 – was also my deadline date my CPA – Amanda Hann – wanted all my 2021 tax stuff!!! Yikes!
It was a crazy month! Another reason we had so many “Best of…” episodes!
And we drove out with my oldest son Jordan and my youngest daughter Francesca – all in one car – who will also be getting new starts started out here as well. I had this AAA Triptic (old dawgs may know what that is) plan with hotels, sightseeing, scenic routes, etc. but they out ruled me and wanted a marathon non-stop 32-hour road trip.
So that’s where we are at today! Our POD doesn’t arrive until the 30th!
We have no furniture! Just blow-up beds, a card table and 4 chairs
But despite all the craziness and the ULTIMATE JOY OF MOVING! We are totally stoked, excited and extremely happy to be here!
Sure, we will be flying back and forth a fair amount until we can trick… I mean convince the rest of our family of the benefits of living in Tennessee!
My daughter Ariana has a baby coming due September 15th! I can’t wait!
So, that’s my update! Not exactly some “tips, tricks or terminology” that usually come out on “Fun Fact Fridays” but hey! We’re family! And we also got to just catch up once in a while!
We feel so very blessed!
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