Many times when I’m out and meeting people, I’ll be asked what I do. I usually explain Investor Nation’s business model and how people use a company like ours to buy and own investment property. The response I often get is, “I’ve been thinking about that.”, or “I’ve heard of that”.
See it seems I meet a lot of hipsters on my travels and they are definitely curious. At the end of the day, the creative class and hipster community is already investing in real estate. Usually more so than the main stream America. The hipsters represent a form of counter-culture and alternativeness which falls in line with investing alternatives such as real estate investment.
So if you fit the profile, I’ve come up with 8 reasons why every hipster should own investment property.
1. You like to travel. - Who says buying investment property had to happen in your backyard. Now you have reasons to travel to the hip cash flow capitals of the US. Visits to see the King at Graceland in Memphis become tax deductible because you’re there on business. Don’t forget to hit Beale Street for some blues and get some ribs while you’re there, over a “business” dinner with your property manager, of course.
2. You want to improve neighborhoods but not swing a hammer. – Owning investment property often means buying distressed homes. With foreclosures everywhere, you are doing the neighborhoods a service. This means restoring homes and neighborhoods to their pre-crisis state.
3. You get to make the rules. - You like alternative culture, dress, and food, but your investing habits mimic that of middle America. Investing in the stock market? That’s too mainstream for your taste. Be different. Want to buy homes in the soon to be cool neighborhood? Do it. Prefer to paint all your houses 5 shades of grey? Done. You write the rules with your property.
4. You care about the environment. – Not only can you live and breath the green lifestyle you currently do, you can force your tenants to as well. Why not add solar panels to every house you buy? Buy efficient heating and cooling systems and the latest window technology. Hey it costs more, but it’s your investment home and you can do with it what you want. Plus those green improvements you made usually offer tax incentives.
5. You want to build wealth like the average folks, only more of it and faster. – Your friends with boring jobs have everything vested in a 401k and you’d like nothing more than to ratchet past them in the course of life. Owning sound real estate investments is sort of like cheating because you use the power of leverage. You leveraged $10,000 into a $100,000 investment home which is growing at 5-10%. They bought $10,000 worth of stocks and have a similar rate. Every year your net worth is potentially increasing 5 times as fast as theirs.
6. You care about social programs, but would prefer government to minimize its taxes on you. - Real estate is perfect if you want to pay less taxes. Buy investment property to shelter your income and realize the benefits of depreciation, interest and expense deductions. Let’s not forget to mention the tax deductible travel we talked about earlier.
7. You want your kids to rebel at only the best universities. – The thought of paying for your kids’ college tuition all alone makes you sick. Enlist the help of the tenants living in your investment property to do it for you. They pay down the mortgage every month and you unload a house or 2 when your kids hit 18.
8. You secretly like the idea of owning investment property and people paying YOU rent for once. – Let’s face it, investing in real estate is an underground movement. Something about the people that own investment property is intriguing. The question is how did they hear about this before you?
Even if you aren’t a hipster, real estate can be the escape from mainstream stock market monotony you are tired of. It can be a way to accelerate your wealth, while gaining significant tax advantages along the way.
- Ryan Hinricher, Founder and The Voice of Investor Nation
