Sweet Corn Helped Us Buy Our First Piece of Real Estate

Posted by M.S. on April 26, 2009

In 1977, after having just gotten married after graduating from college, we were DEAD BROKE– and we didn’t intend to stay that way for long!

We both have degrees in Business and learned that through hard word, perseverance and frugal living it is possible to save and invest to build wealth, especially when you start young.

Our quest to get rich began when we had a fateful conversation with a friend of ours named Pat.  In the course of visiting with Pat, he casually mentioned that he needed to drive over to his 4 investment properties and pick up the monthly rents!  Pat was the same age as us, 23, and he already owned 4 duplexes!  We were stunned!  How could this be??

Over the years, I learned something that that has served me well!  When I see someone accomplishing something I would like to do too, I ASK them directly– How Did You Do That??  So I asked Pat to explain how he accomplished this amazing feat!

Pat said– It was easy!  He told us he saved like crazy by setting a very strict budget based on the money he made at his job at an insurance agency and, because he wanted to accomplish his goals quickly, he supplemented his income by working at his family’s sweet corn business- so he could save more.

Pat’s family had financed all 5 children’s college educations through the selling of sweet corn at a farm stand on the side of the road in the summertime!  They all worked very hard and made lots of money that was split between each child!

Pat decided to defer his spending and build his wealth NOW by saving a large percentage of what he earned and use that money as a down payment on investment properties.  When he purchased a property, Pat would move into each duplex, so it was considered owner occupied and he only needed to put 10% down.  He then would repeat the process!

He’d save the money, move into the property, live there while he continued to save for the next property and buy another property and move into it!  Then, Pat rented the entire property he had just vacated.  He did that 4 times!

We said WE CAN DO THAT TOO! And we did it!

While aggressively saving money from our jobs,  we also took on piecemeal assembly work for my company that we did at home on the weekends so we could save even more!  We didn’t sell sweet corn, but we utilized the same concept.  Take on extra work and save all that extra income!

At the end of our first year, we bought our first piece of real estate!

We were on our way!