Discover the Millionaire Inside Yourself

Do it yourself junkies have an advantage over lots of people. They actually have a higher skill level to leverage themselves to real estate investment success!

The sun was barely up when I swung my ol’ blue pickup truck into the parking lot at my local “big box” home improvement store. Getting up early to beat the Saturday morning crowd didn’t seem to be working all that well. The lines were already backed up outside when I stumbled through the main entrance door. Still, crowded or not, these early morning shoppers are my kinda people. I often call ‘em, the home improvement junkies. They’re pretty much the guys and gals who love fixin’ stuff and figuring out what new gizmos to install next. They love to fix things and make improvements around the house. Standing in the checkout line sorta gazing around, I couldn’t help but wonder; how many of these early risin’ home owners could be millionaires if they only knew what I know? I’m guessing quite a few, but let me explain!

I was twenty-one years old when I purchased my very first house using the old G.I. Bill. Uncle Sam offered low interest mortgages to veterans with only $100 down. Even though I had a job, $100 still seemed like a lot! 

Back then, my “no frills”, cracker box house presented me with a boat-load of opportunities to make improvements and upgrade the place. It had no fences, no lawns, and no patio. Inside, there were four bare walls, cheap asphalt tile floors and the government’s standard one coat, watered down, paint job. The Army don’t teach much about fixing houses or home improvements, but I was eager to learn and I had energy to spare.

I’ll admit, my qualifications for making home improvements were a bit skimpy when I started, but as I would quickly discover, guts and perseverance works wonders when you’re brand spankin’ new and willing to learn. Almost every clerk or salesperson would give me advice when I purchased their materials. Not all of it was good of course, still; they helped me a lot – and besides, it was all free! Over the years I’ve found there’s lots of people willing to help you if you’ll act a bit humble – maybe even a little dumb! Keep your mouth shut and allow folks to explain things to you. 

Sometimes when you appear confused, they’ll explain things over and over again. When you’re listening to the right people, you won’t find much better education.

An excellent way to learn on the cheap is to drive around your neighborhoods where new construction (home building) is going on. You can go to school on the various stages of construction. Houses start with pouring the concrete foundation. Naturally, the rough plumbing will be laid in place before the concrete is poured if you wish to see how the sewer and water lines are laid out. House framing starts next if the house is to be constructed on the concrete slab, otherwise; the sub-flooring will be built on top of wooden cross-members called floor joists. I knew very little about house construction when I purchased my first rundown houses. I found that driving around to local building sites (subdivisions) during the various stages of construction provided a great education for me. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn.

I still remember an early fix-up experience while upgrading a small bathroom; replacing the cabinets and sink. I was doing okay installing my new vanity and Formica countertop. I even cut the hole nearly perfect for my shiny new oval sink. As I proceeded hooking up the drain and supply lines, everything was going like clockwork until I turned on the water. It ran fine, but the drain seemed to be clogged up. It was making some very strange sounding noises – glurg, glurg, glurg – then a couple blurps. I took the drain line apart and checked for blockages – found none, so I put it back together. My second test was more of the same glurg, glurg, glurg with even louder blurps! So much for my plumbing skills – oh well, I still had my telephone job!

Long story short, I drove out to a local subdivision where 35 new houses were in various stages of construction. This time I was zeroed-in on finding a plumbing crew. My plan was to catch ‘em eating lunch and just sorta stroll through the house till I found a bathroom so I could take a peek at the drain lines. Everything worked out like I planned, but the drain line looked almost exactly like mine. I still didn’t have my answer. On the way out I said, “Hi guys” to the plumbers! They returned my “Hi” and even turned down their radio so they could hear me over the latest sports scores! I then asked them; “Have you guys ever run into a sink that’s not plugged up but the water still won’t go down? It just sits in the sink and gurgles!” “Have you checked out the vent, they asked?” ...."Vent, I don’t think I have one!" Sure ya do, every sink has a vent.” That was the last time I ever installed a sink without making sure it was properly vented.

Looking back – it was my old G.I. tract house that would actually start me down the path to becoming a wealthy real estate investor. I had lots to learn of course, but having already made improvements like building fences, pouring concrete patios and adding electrical circuits was all the proof I needed that fixing things and adding new gizmos were not beyond my capabilities. I will confess, some jobs, like plumbing, took me several attempts and multiple trips to the hardware stores before I could finally get the leaks stopped. 

I was like the brand new carpenter who cut a board 3 times and it was still too short. As my skills improved, so did my confidence and self-esteem. In my own mind, there was nothing around my house I couldn’t fix or improve. Friends of mine would often say – “Jay, you could make yourself some extra money doing this stuff around the neighborhood.”

I’ve always felt my willingness to volunteer my personal hands-on labor pretty much leveled the playing field with investors who had more money than me. I also figured that being somewhat familiar with fix-up and home improvements gave me a significant advantage buying rundown properties. Relying on my home improvement experiences, working on my ol’ G.I. house gave me oodles of confidence so I felt like there was nothing on any property I couldn’t fix or at least somewhat improve. I cannot over-emphasis the tremendous advantage home improvement junkies have when they decide to turn their hands-on experiences into building personal wealth. Obviously, there’s lots of stuff to learn, but the fastest and best education you’ll ever receive anywhere is your hands-on participation – on-the-job training we like to call it!

Obviously, I have no way of knowing, but I would certainly guess at least half the guys and gals I stood in line with Saturday morning, at my home improvement store, could very well have that millionaire bug hiding inside themselves! They just don’t know it yet! Odds are, a few will follow in my footsteps, but I’d guess potential millionaires number in the hundreds – maybe even more. Without knowing it, these folks have a tremendous head start toward creating wealth and financial independence for themselves and their families using the very same skills they already possess. 

There are very few millionaire opportunities in our society today where a formal education is not required to become one! Those “Home Improvement Junkies” who stand in line with me Saturday mornings are a rare exception.