Wow!  Looks like I’m going to start my first real estate investment soon.  My realtor called late in the afternoon and notified me of a closing date for next week.  I’m not going to lie, I’m really excited about this!  I think this is going to work out well and I’ve done enough homework to make me feel comfortable with the project I’ve decided to undertake.There is a lot of work to be done and honestly that is part of the appeal, I’m looking for a project, but if all goes well I should end up learning a lot of new skills and make a decent return on my investment in the process.

Before I even talked to the realtor I decided to liquidate another stock from my portfolio.  At this point I would rather have the cash on hand to start doing repairs than I would the possibility for gains or worse, losses.  Today I sold all of my shares of Intel (INTC) which makes me a little sad because I think Intel has a lot of potential going forward.  I’m happy with the gains that Intel has given me in he short amount of time I’ve held it.  I bought in the fall of last year when the shares were hammered for the downward revision in earnings that management made.  I’ve always believed that short-term challenges do not mean that a stock does not have potential; those are the times I’m looking to buy at a discount.  Here is how this trade turned out:

Purchased:

• 100 @ 21.50= 2150.00
• 50 @ 19.50= 975.00

Total= 3125.00

Sold:

• 150 @ 25.01 = 3751.50
• Dividends: 90

Total= 3841.50

Nominal Return= 22.9%

Not bad for holding a little less than a year. Intel may go up from here but as I stated before having the cash is more important at this point.

Once I close on the house next week look for a post about the numbers for my first real estate investment.  It should turn out to be an interesting experience!