Wealth Edition: Podcasts.

wealth

It is no secret that real estate agents spend a lot of time in their cars and to utilize my time (and mind) better, I often listen to podcasts. As I mentioned here, my favorite topic is wealth and coincidentally my favorite podcasts are about wealth.  Here is a list of some of my favorite podcasts so you can share in the wealth too!

BiggerPockets. This podcast is one of the best! It is primarily about real estate investing and each week they chat with a new real estate investor regarding how they are building their business. It is interesting take on how different businesses can while still successfully creating wealth. Even though I am in the industry, I always take away something new from this podcast.

ChooseFI. As the book, The Millionaire Next Door reminded me, wealth is a game of both offense and defense. This podcast details how the game of wealth can be played both offensively (increasing your income) and defensively (keeping household bills low) with the hopes of achieving FI. FI, short for Financial Independence is part of a bugger movement know as FIRE (Financial independence, Retire Early), the goal of this group is to retire early and not have to be dependent on an income (or corporate job). The episodes vary in topic but one is typically a guest interview while the second one of the week is the hosts, Jonathan and Brad, discussing the latest interview and taking questions from the community.

Afford Anything. Host, Paula Pant, built her wealth by leaving her corporate job and becoming a freelance writer. Her life changed when she was able to build a real estate portfolio. Starting with a tri-plex where she rented out the two extra units and lived in the third. From there, she was able to buy several more and now lives primarily on her passive income and writing and speaking gigs. A new podcast comes out once a week and every other week there is a guest that chats about different topics (real estate, entrepreneurship, building wealth, retiring early, etc). The other weeks open up the podcast to listeners to ask questions (half of the questions are general finance questions and the other half are real estate related) and Paula will give her opinion and advice.

BiggerPockets Money. The newest member to the BiggerPockets community, this podcast gives you tips and tricks on how to get your finances in order and features guests that have done the same. Topics range from real estate, cutting bills, getting out of debt, achieving financial freedom and more. One of my recent favorites was episode 60, ‘Rejecting a Scarcity Mindset and Going All-In on Apartment Investing with Gino Barbaro’, because sometimes you need a reminder to play BIG.

FireDrill. The hosts, J and Gwen are both twenty-somethings that have jumped on the FIRE bandwagon early in life. Although, the emphasis of this show is FI, these ladies have built a majority of their wealth through side hustles. They have built passive income from rental properties, Etsy shops and blogging (Gwen is the author of Fiery Millennial and J authors Millennial Boss). It is no secret that the millennials continue to shake up the current environment and this podcast sheds some light as to what millennials think and value.

Sure, I may have become slightly obsessed with the topic of building wealth but can you ever know TOO much on the topic? The above podcasts provide information, a sense of community and motivation to stay on track with your financial and wealth-building goals. In the end, building wealth takes perseverance, patience, education, risk and the ability to delay gratification. Be sure to take a listen to one (or all) of these and let me know what you think!

Liz is  broker and owner of Liz Daigle Realty.

Happy Valentine’s Day! What is your love language?

Valentine's Day

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day that chatting about… love. Whether you are in a relationship or not, every individual has a way of interpreting and expressing love. Think of all the relationships you have – a significant other, spouse, family members, children and friends, determining your individual love language helps others communicate and express their love to you  properly.

In 1995, Gary Chapman outlined the five love languages in his book The 5 Love Languages. The five different languages are, as follows:

  1. Words of Affirmation. This language is used to affirm other people. If this is your language, you enjoy unsolicited compliments from your partner. Kind, encouraging and positive words mean a lot to you.
  2. Physical Touch. You enjoy hugs, pats and holding hands with your partner. Physical touch fosters a sense of security and belonging for you.
  3. Quality Time. Time is a hot commodity in our busy lives but for the person whose love language is quality time, they need uninterrupted time with their partner. Sharing quality conversations and activities goes a long way.
  4. Receiving Gifts. If you speak this love language, receiving gifts from your partner makes you feel loved and taken care of. Gifts are visual representation of your love.
  5. Acts of Service. People with this love language enjoy when their partner does anything to lesson their burden of responsibility. Laziness, broken promises and/or commitments and more work for them makes these folks feel like they do not matter.

Can you see what confusion that may bring to a relationship if you do not know your or your significant other’s love language? Imagine your love language is receiving gifts but your partner’s is words of affirmation. You think you are expressing your love by showing up with little gifts but your partner has never heard a word of affirmation from you, making it look like you do not appreciate him/her. Consider ending the miscommunication by taking this short quiz. The results will rank your love language in order of relevance, putting your primary love language at the top. For this Valentine’s Day, provide your loved ones with your love language so they can truly show you how much they love you and you, them!

Liz is  broker and owner of Liz Daigle Realty.

An Ode to Doors and Walls.

open concept

Excuse me while I argue a minority position. It is no secret that open concept floor plans are the rage currently. Everyone loves when the kitchen opens to the living and dining room and often will take down walls and doors to accomplish this look. Open concept is ideal for our modern everyday living and creates a spacious and airy feel. But is the open concept all that is it cracked up to be? There is a lot to be said about a closed off kitchen.

For many years, the kitchen stood separate from the living/dining area. It wasn’t until Frank Lloyd Wright came on the scene and started to design homes that we started to see the open concept living. He brought the kitchen to the center of the home with very little separation between the living and dining areas.

As you know, we just bought a 1910 bungalow (years before Frank Lloyd Wright started designing homes), which means we took on a galley kitchen. The living and dining room are open but the kitchen sits in the back corner of the home. And you know what? I kind of love it. Sure, it is not going to be the gathering place if we have company but that is what the living and dining room are for.

Please “entertain” me while I explain some of the perks of a closed off kitchen.

  1. Cleanliness. Maybe it is just me but my kitchen is the messiest room of the home. It seems to be an endless task to keep it clean and having a separate kitchen keeps the mess contained.
  2. Sometimes you need a minute. Whether entertaining or just cooking dinner, a closed off kitchen allows you a bit of privacy. Our kitchen is the one room that you can’t seem to hear someone in another room. 🙂
  3. No television. With a separate kitchen, you can’t hear the television in the living room. Sometimes a bit of quiet while preparing meals is a nice treat.
  4. Sure, open floor plans are great for watching your toddlers but what happens when they are older? They can always see you and you them.
  5. Boundaries. Could a closed off kitchen provides a boundary in a world where boundaries seem to blur in everyday life? Work life vs. home life, private life vs. social life,

In 2014, the New York Times published this article which noted that they had started to see a rise in homebuyers wanting a formal dining room and separate kitchen. Home builders stopped their instinct to blow out walls and started creating more defined spaces.

In Denver, we are still seeing the open floor plan as a very popular option. Although, it does seem that some homebuyers do like the more defined space. Could the middle ground be what the article terms as “hybrid kitchens”? Where a pocket door (or barn door) separates the kitchen from the living/dining areas. This gives homeowners the option of an open kitchen or a closed kitchen.

It does seem that homebuyers either love the open concept or hate it, there does not seem to be a middle ground. Although, I am here to tell you that if you find yourself loving a home with a closed off kitchen, rest assured it is not all bad! You might just find you end up loving it.

 

Liz is broker and owner of Liz Daigle Realty.

A Reset.

reset

As an entrepreneur, I have to do a bit of planning heading into a new year but some years even that gets overlooked. An eight-page business plan? Who has time for that? This year I was able to attend an early business planning seminar for my business in 2019 which allowed for more time to plan and reflect on the upcoming year. Unbeknownst to me, it was a one page business plan and the two hours were spent chipping away at the mental clutter to get to your three core values you wanted to have in the next year. We were asked to embrace the uncomfortable in order to reset in anticipation for 2019.

Fast forward to a few weekends ago when I was able to attend TedX at the Convention Center. The topic for this TedX was reset and what a completely appropriate topic it was, as we approach a new year. The speakers included presentations about social and political causes with a bit of dancing, music and humor. Some topics were uncomfortable, meant to challenge the way that you think while the host kept reminding the audience to lean into the discomfort to challenge our current thoughts.

Reset (verb) to set again or differently. In order to reset must we take a mirror to ourselves to see the reflection back to us; our weaknesses, fear, addictions, self-doubts and idiosyncrasies. These are the items that we may want to challenge in order to reset a new perspective or approach. For myself, I don’t love public speaking but also am so intrigued with a good presenter. Public speaking is like an art. Recently I joined a local Toastmasters club. It meets every Thursday at 7AM and every Thursday at 6:30 AM I try to convince myself why I don’t need to go. “I am tired.” “I don’t need Toastmasters.” “What if I have to speak?” This is very unlike me as I typically have a high level of self-discipline but Thursday mornings present an inner battle as I drive the one mile to the meeting. For 90 minutes, I anxiously sit as I wait to be asked to talk. Then when I do talk, someone clicks a remote when I say filler words, such as, “um”, “ah” “so”. Talk about a mirror… Very slowly, the battle to go to the meeting gets quieter and my public speaking gets better.

Steven Pressfield, author of War of Art and Turning Pro, would call this inner battle, resistance. Resistance are the items or characteristics that take us further from our dreams or best life. For some people it is addictions, anxiety and/or sabotage. My resistance tends to be my phone (it provides a great distraction to doing the work or being present) and staying busy (no time to do the work!) To find out what your resistance is, you need to look inward and while you are there, take that mirror with you. 🙂

“You don’t need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind. When we turn pro, we give up a life that we may have become extremely comfortable with. We give up a self that we have come to identify with and to call our own. TURNING PRO IS FREE, BUT IT DEMANDS SACRIFICE. The passage from amateur to professional is often achieved via an interior odyssey whose trials are survived only at great cost, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. We pass through a membrane when we turn pro. It’s messy and it’s scary. We tread in blood when we turn pro. WHAT WE GET WHEN WE TURN PRO. What we get when we turn pro is we find our power. We find our will and our voice and we find our self-respect. We become who we always were but had, until then, been afraid to embrace and live out.” – Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro.

What will you do to reset for a great start to 2019? Start by considering what you want to accomplish this year – public speaking, buying and/or selling a home, a new home, starting a family, retiring? What you want to do will be different than anyone else but whatever it is will require work and a new you. In order to get there, you will need to determine what you will need to challenge and reset.

 

Downtown Littleton Project: Front Porch.

front porch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have our minds on our screened-in front porches lately. What? You don’t think about front porches when its cold out and we are approaching December? Currently the front porch has been acting as a great storage unit for all the items we own and have no idea to do with. Unfortunately,  this doesn’t create the best curb appeal for the home. As we evaluate all the potential projects in this home, the one that keeps coming up is making the porch into a four season. We keep mulling it over because, as a real estate agent, I know that the best bang for our buck would be adding a third bedroom and/or second bath.

The front porch would add square footage to the home (roughly 300 sq. ft.) and we would definitely use it more than a bedroom in the basement. Not TOO much would have to happen for us to make it into a four season porch. The projects that this would entail would be:

  1. Electricity. Currently there is one outlet on the porch, we would need more and one or two overhead lights.
  2. Heating/AC. Currently there is a vent on the opposite side of the wall of the porch. We would need to add a vent to keep the porch heated/cooled.
  3. Insulated. Well if we are paying for it to be heated we NEED to insulate the porch to keep the heat in. Three of the four walls and the ceiling has gorgeous headboard which we want to preserve while adding insulation.
  4. Windows. Truly this is what will take it from a screen porch to a four season and this is not an easy or cheap task. We would need to install three walls of custom windows.
  5. Refinish or replace the floor. Currently the floor is painted wood. With this room getting a lot of foot (wet) traffic, painted wood is not the best option. Once refinished or replaced the floors would be better stained to withstand the conditions.
  6. Paint, of course. :/

If we choose to go ahead with this project, it would alleviate a bit of the pinch on space. It would give us a second living space and (gasp) room for my desk/office. Since this porch is the first room that guests step into when the enter the home, I would love to design a welcoming and fun space. Here are a few inspiration pictures I have for this project.

Cool, calm and inviting..

One /// Two

Natural Elements…

Three /// Four

Dark and Moody…

Five /// Six

When you are limited on space, a front porch is a great way to add additional square footage and living space to a home. Additionally, it can be designed to function as a personal oasis to enjoy all year long! What are your thoughts? Would a front porch be a good investment for our home? Would you want to buy a home with a fabulous front porch?

 

Liz is  broker and owner of Liz Daigle Realty.

Moving 101.

moving

After our move to Littleton, I think this blog post would be better titled “How NOT to move” because we did not move efficiently. The move took close to a month and a half and now that we are through it, I have been reading up on the perfect move and how to do it. It may be too late for us but I am sure you can benefit. Here are some great tips and tricks to make moving a little less painful.

  1. Prior to packing, go through everything. Are there items that are unnecessary and can be given away? Don’t move items you won’t use. While packing, I, personally, keep two piles going – what needs to be packed, what needs to given away and what needs to be sold.
  2. Organize and pack items into categories and/or rooms. This will help with unpacking.
  3. If this didn’t happen already, get a deep clean before moving in. We moved into a house where three cats lived previously. The seller said that they were getting a move out clean but it became evident that it needed a deeper clean. We got a number of our personal items in only to stop midway when we realized we need a deep clean before anything else came in the house.
  4. Pack an overnight bag (or two..). There is nothing worse than a long day of moving to only have to search for your PJs, toothbrush, etc.
  5. Consider what you will need immediately and pack it into a a clear box. This makes it easier to find. 🙂
  6. Label your boxes, this will help with locating items and while unpacking. 
  7. We only have two broken dishes, thankfully. Don’t be like us, wrap your wine glasses and stemware in socks and keep it protected.
  8. Hire professional movers. If you are able to do this, this helps take a lot of the physical work out of moving. Since we were moving from two homes and fortunately (or unfortunately) had two months or more to move, we hired movers to move our furniture while we moved everything else. Don’t want to hire movers? Recruit your friends but be sure to reward with pizza and beer, of course!

No matter how you look at it, moving is no fun. Organization and preparation are the keys to moving successfully. Look here and here for even more tips. As awful as moving may be, always remember how great it will be to be settled in your new home!