Fleet of Trucks VS Real Estate?

Oh really? That's the first Ive heard of it. Im surprised they got away with that.

 

Yeah.. i pulled asphalt and bossman was trying to get on with Fishburn up the road... i dipped and went local. He was losing his 5 Pete fleet anyway... i did good for myself.
The windmill endeavour, all up and down SR13 land was leased from or however they did it, with the Amish.... they never got paid. Right in the middle of their fields.

 

I think it depends on how much money you do or don’t have. When I started trucking I got a line of credit against the 40k of equity I had in my home. Trucking has been really hard but I am way way way more wealthy and better off now then I was then. What could I have bought for 40k that would have done much for me today? (11 yrs later)

So I think it depends on your age and how much money you have. For me I’m trying to become a millionaire and once I achieve that then I’ll start buying farm ground. I’ve already bought 75 acres and own two homes but I’ve decided to sell the one home since the market is way up. It was my first home who’s equity allowed me to start trucking so it’s bittersweet. I’ll take that money and other savings to finish paying off that 75 acres.

So I guess I’m doing both but trucking and owning a fleet is where it’s at for me. Real estate is too slow and if you have that much #### money to invest then Why not buy a stock like Ford and let the 6% dividend roll in every year? Ford is not on fire but the dividends are solid.

My father in law owns about 25 homes ranging from 150 to 225k and rents them all out. He’s been doing it for the last 18 years. I’ve saw him have to be quite thrifty at times over the years although I’ll agree he’s lived off of it while still paying down debt. It’s still a headache though. He is always having 4 to 5 problem child’s where it’s chasing rent, evicting people, finding new renters, or having to put in new carpet, furnace, etc etc. He has done well but in shorter time I’ve done much better.

My Grandparents as a little kid I saw them do everything from trucking, running cattle, crop farming, and buying land. All the other farmers always wondered how they grew to keep buying more and more acres. Truth of it was that the trucking company is what afforded all the growth. Over time they asmaased 5 or 6 thousand acres and made huge money off the crop rents as they retired from farming themselves. They got out of trucking in 2000 but by then were set enough that the snow ball was really rolling good. They had trucked small since the 50’s and big since the mid 80’s though. One thing my Grandpa always said was with land one thing is for certain, they aren’t making anymore of it! He said he didn’t want to buy all the land, just what bumped up against his. LOL.

Anyway, long story short I’d say if you’re of the mind to have a fleet then do that and make enough to over time begin buying land. Then sell your trucking company for a big wad and buy even more. If you are a good one truck guy, then live off it and roll extra profits into investments to retire on.

 

Real estate rarely blows an engine. If you have capital, buy real estate rather than several trucks.

 

^^^^ I'm going 'Forward in Reverse' .. but I hear you. Land has been precious here, to my family..... and still is to me. Never spent a dime on a loan of a skoshe of it, either. Won't.

 

You will need a lot of real estate to replace income of 1 truck driven by your self. With that said you need a fleet of trucks to replace the real estate income. Forget employees, have what you can manage. To much liability with employees and trucking is to cutthroat and volital.

 

Seems like the most successful take profits made from Trucking and invest it elsewhere. The Largest Land Owner in Michigan’s Father started with 7 Trucks in 1967. Today a billionaire If you’re young enough, land paid for in cash will set you up for a great retirement. Rentals with mortgages can become a nightmare, especially if you have other things like Trucks to run. And Real Estate does go down. 2008 down 50%, 1990 down 1980 down, currently high its due for a backlash correction.

 

Mark Twain said "Buy land, they're not making it any more".
True then, true now.
As far as rental properties go, be real careful. We tried it for a few years and what little money we actually kept wasn't worth the aggravation
If you buy up a few old dilapidated houses you'll be spending all your time fixing things and trying to get your renters to pay on time.
If your renters don't pay on time or don't pay at all you'll get to experience the joys of the eviction process.
You'll have to carry a lot of liability insurance.
The only way to do it is to buy enough...we bought apartment complexes... that you can have a property management company take care of everything. The downside to that is that your already slim profit margin is reduced by what the property management company charges and they don't work cheap..
What worked for us was to buy farm land and lease it out to growers. Some of it is in rice, some is in row crops, and the rest is pasture for cattle. The growers are local people already well established and they pay their bills on time. We've had the same people leasing the ground for over ten years now. It works for them and we've been able to buy more ground as time goes on.

As far as trucking goes...look around. It has a bigger failure rate than almost any business.
The profit margin is hideously small when things are going right. When things don't go right...unexpected expenditures, accidents, personnel problems, lawsuits, governmental compliance violations that result in fines, a shifting customer base...you can go so far underwater so fast that you won't know what hit you.
Plus, trucking is one of the few things I know of where your most expensive asset...your equipment...is worth less every day and will require rebuilding or replacement about the same time as it finally gets paid for.

There's more but I don't want to get into a long post contest with X1-Heavy.
Whatever you decide, good luck to you.

 

Well said, for sure.

 

Stole my post! lol.

What he described seems to be exactly my observation on rentals and farmland. I still love trucking or fleet trucking though. I really do feel like you can make it pretty big with a little luck, a lot of hard work, and good people on your team.