Yesterday, I bought a 2017 BMW i3 BEV with 22k miles for the wife.. So, now we are a 2 EV household. We are keeping my wife's Grand Caravan as I'll use it to tow my trailer to haul stuff from time to time. I'll sell my Ford F150 Crew Cab as I use it only 2 to 3 times per year since I got my Kona.. The Van has enough towing capacity to haul our small trailer..
Congrats ... you will enjoy it With a M3 and an Audi PHEV we drive electric 90% of the time. Using the Audi (~ 20 mi range) mostly locally, I get up to 2000 miles on a tank of gas (9 gal)
The wife will enjoy it much more than I do as I won't get to drive it a lot... I did drive it home from the dealer but it's mostly for my wife..
The i3 is prettier than the Kona. it's also more quiet. However, I'm not a fan of the I3 infotainment system, lack of setting target charge %, builtn in navigation and lack of Android Auto support. I also don't like that every time. I open the door when in park with the car on, the HV battery is disconnected and the car runs off the 12 Volt battery.. The 12 volt battery is also dying.. Will go to BMW tomorrow to get a new one under warranty.
I myself can't decide, I really like the looks of both for very different reasons. The Kona is very traditional looking and in that regard it looks really good. The i3 is very distinctive and quirky and that kind of design has always fascinated me and I like what BMW has done. By the way BlueKonaEV, I have complete garage envy. Look how much space you have behind each of the cars, I could easily fit my two motorcycles along with the cars in a garage that size.
I'm lucky to have a total of over 1600 sq/ft (150 m2) garage space.. I have a 648 sq/ft 2 car garage and a 966 sq/ft 4 car garage...Tiled both garages.. Used to use the 4 car garage for my weekend toy ('68 Corvette Convertible) but recently sold it. Now I have my wife's old van, my trailer and my riding mowers in there... as also a bunch of construction equipment.. I was very lucky to get this house just after the real estate market collapsed in 2008. I paid ridiculously little for that house. Got a really good deal on it but spent over $100k on the remodel.. House even has an indoor pool.. From the outside.. (when I still had the Vette)
Very nice. I have to practice garage Tetris to get everything to fit in mine. At it's peak I had two cars, two kayaks, three motorcycles, one snowblower and one lawnmower fitting in my garage. Now that the Kona has replaced the Smart car I'm in a bit of a bind. I have sold one of my motorcycles but there is no way I can fit two bikes along with the Kona. Right now I'm debating of selling off one of my bikes or building shed/garage extension. Partial view of peak capacity. Like that Vette too!
I had the same issue in my previous house.. I had a 2 car garage, 400 sq/ft attached to a 3000 sq/ft home.. Now I have a 4130 sq/ft home with over 1600 sq/ft of garage space. However, 1700 sq/ft are taken up by my indoor pool, so I actually only have just over 2400 sq/ft actual living area.. The pool area is air conditioned but wouldn't consider it living area..
And as I envy your garage my wife would kill for an indoor pool... or even an outdoor pool. Grass is always greener I suppose.
In Florida, I'd prefer an outdoor pool.. but it is nice that I don't have to fish out leaves and stuff from my pool.. Maintenance is very low.. Also, water level in an outdoor pools drops 1/8 inch per day in summer.. Due to lack of sun exposure, my water level drops only about 1/2 inch per month, so I only need to add an inch of water about once every 2 months.. Outside of Florida, I could never afford such home.. I was also lucky to get that home...I was in the right time at the right place.. Right now, my home is worth 3 times what I paid for.. That's however nothing compared to one of my rentals.. One of my rentals is worth about 8 x what I paid for it and about 5 x what I have into it..
You did well... Lots of ways to make money, and you found yours. Having said that, it doesn't happen without a thorough understanding and good judgment of whatever your chosen endeavour. What works for one person, may not for another.
It also depends on location.. I was at the right place at the right time and I came up with the needed cash.. I could have never done the same in other locations.. Real estate was DIRT CHEAP from 2008 to 2013 and reasonable until 2016.. Since the market hit rock bottom around 2012, prices have doubled to tripled.. I did a lot of flips during that time and I also kept some as rentals.. I would have made millions if I had more money to invest.. I did not want to borrow money from credit sharks at a high % interest rate, so I was limited to the cash or available credit at low rates that I had available. Banks won't lend money on houses that are vacant, need major work and can't be insured. If I tell you the prices of some of the houses that I paid, nobody would believe me..
Yeah, I remember well what happened in 2009 with RE prices in the US. Up in Canada here, it was not as bad, but there were also opportunities. We bought our current house that we live in now in 2010, and it has since doubled, which is about par I guess for the market here (we didn't have a big crash where I live). Also had a rental house back then, which I sold too soon. Could have made a lot more on that one. But we also have a lake cabin vacation home that is worth a lot. Water front property around here is very expensive. But I made most of my money in the stock markets which allowed me to retire about 10 years early. Still trade a bit, but a lot more cautious now, and more focused on capital protection than high growth.
I never liked the stock market as geopolitical events can cause huge crashes.. While the housing market can crash too, if you buy your homes at rock bottom prices, you are fairly safe.. Also, rents usually don't collapse like RE values, so being in the landlord business is fairly safe.. If more people are foreclosed on, there will be more tenants... If the Real Estate market collapes by 50%, my net worth will drop 50% BUT, my income will stay about the same.. I really don't worry about my net worth on paper. What I'm concerned about how much I get in rent every month. If I make $7k in rent every month while my net worth is $2 million or if I make $7k in rent when my net worth is $500k is really irrelevant.. What matters is that $7k come in every month..
I understand and agree with what you are doing. But at my stage of life, I am trying to simplify, so I can sleep well. I sold my rental house because I was tired of chasing rent and fixing it up. I also owned 3 hangars at our local airport (down to 1 now) 2 of which I was renting out. And same thing with that, having to chase rent. Even now with the cabin, and our home, getting tired of all the fix-up projects, and wife's never ending passion for remodelling, just because she gets tired of the old look. HGTV has cost me a lot of money...
I'm lucky with my tenants. Only had to evict somebody once since 2010. They pay on time with no issues.. Vacancy has not been an issue in the last 10 years. Every time a tenant leaves, I have the new one lined up immediately.. Rental market is red hot in Central Florida. While I manage my properties myself, I will hire a management company as I get older.. Planning on managing them until I'm about 65 years old.. It's about less than 50 hours of work per YEAR.. I'm not sure if I'll add more properties.. Right now, I have enough income from the houses to live off the rental income. However, I still have debts on my personal residence. If all works out as planned, I should be 100% debt free in 2026.. At that point, it should be fairly easy to quit my job and not having to worry about paying my bills..
