We Have a Baby

Our children have pets. They call their pets children. So we've decided to call our real estate investments children. Seems the modern thing to do :)

Mitzi and I agreed when we got married that we would not have any human babies. We'd done our share of that and in this new phase of life there was NO WAY we were going to start over — with a human anyway.

Mitzi and I have conceived 10 babies so far. 7 single-family and 3 multi-family investments. These babies never talk back, never poop or pee, and won't need a college education.

They kindly give us money each month, cost significantly less than a human child over their lifetime, take almost no time or energy, grow in value making us wealthier, and will take care of us in our old age. Good children. Yes, very good children :)

Yesterday we visited one of our new babies in Irving, TX. It's an apartment complex with 186 units. We are passive investors. Our lead investor Kevin found the deal and manages the asset. There are 29 other passive investors in this deal with us.

There is a direct flight from St. George to Dallas making it an especially easy trip.

There is a Pappadeaux cajun restaurant in the airport and we love their seafood gumbo. So after landing we ate lunch there before heading to the hotel. We ordered coconut shrimp and it was THE BEST! Then the key lime pie, which we got to go and finished later at the hotel – exquisite.

The day after arriving we drove over to see Grayson Park – that's the name of our baby in case you were wondering. We crammed into the leasing office while Kevin talked about the rehab project, the market, and plans.

Kyle, one of the other investors, got talking to me. Found out he's been in the pharmacy software business for 30 years and is selling his company for $200 million! Just a normal unassuming guy.

We walked the property. First stop was a couple of apartments that hadn't been rehabbed yet. They smell bad, had sheet rock falling from the ceiling from water leaks, and were in pretty bad shape. Mitzi and I agreed we wouldn't have the vision or desire to take on a project like this. Being passive investors suits our style much better.

Then we saw a couple apartments that have been completed. Very nice indeed!

In the evening we all met at Maggiano's, a fancy Italian restaurant, for dinner. The food was great! Instead of taking individual orders they brought out platters and we just shared it all around.

Dessert was a delicious apple strudel and rich chocolate cake.

Oh baby! We hope to have many more of these :)