Author Archives: Reiko

What’s in a name? 

As an adult immigrant to the U.S.A., sometimes I notice things that others take for granted. One such aspect has to do with the first names of individuals; that is, many of them are biblical in origin. My name, by … Continue reading

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Investing Outside of Wall Street – My focus for the next 3 years

For most of us who used to work for corporations, the common sources of retirement income – Social Security and pension – are both under-funded. Decisions related to these fixed-income sources are being made by those whom we, recipients, do … Continue reading

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Summary of events: 2020 – 2021

Since March 2020, almost everyone has been impacted by the universal event. What follows is a summary of the last, nearly two years of our lives. 03/13/2020: Covid-19 lockdowns began in the U.S.A. 08/26/2020: As a broker of our own … Continue reading

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Time sensitive: 2021 Michigan real-estate license renewal

Are you frustrated about the fact that EVERYONE’s license was to expire on 10/31/2021, and that you had to wait forever to get help because something(s) did not work due to the system’s migration to MiPLUS? Here is a helpful … Continue reading

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Time never stops ticking

Any of us who has been around for a while recognizes that death is part of life and that women typically outlive men. For most of my adult life, therefore, I was focused on being independent, preparing myself for an … Continue reading

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Investing Outside of Wall Street – Refinancing rental properties

In the past, we knew of no bank that would let us, investors, refinance rental properties in the name of the LLCs.  It used to be such a pain to have to take them out of the LLCs into our … Continue reading

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Home, sweet home

On Saturday, October 9, after four round trips of moving things to our new place of residence, we finally checked out of the hotel room – where we had stayed since March 30. The quiet environment that is this neighborhood … Continue reading

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Investing Outside of Wall Street – Importance of the money trail

It was in 2006 when we finally bit the bullet and bought our first rental property. Originally, we self-funded it through an LLC. No other party was involved in the purchase of the deal. Shortly thereafter, we refinanced it with … Continue reading

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Our new residence is almost ready

This is a sequel to my May 2021 post on “Glad to be our own broker,” in which I talked about selling our previous residence.  Today’s blog could very well be entitled, “Glad to be our own general contractor” because … Continue reading

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Investing Outside of Wall Street – Keeping the ball in the other guy’s court

In tennis, the name of the game is to hit the ball right back into the opponent’s court within its boundaries. Recently, I had an epiphany that the world of business is somewhat like that, albeit not always. Let me … Continue reading

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