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What business would you start if you had a million dollars? (repost)

kevin1988

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Posted this yesterday, it was mistakenly deleted so here it is again.

If you had up to a Million dollars to start a business, what would you start?

Little kicker, if it cost's a million, it has to be an existing business with proven cash flow.

If it's a ground up business, can't be more than 400-500k.

I've been given an amazing opportunity and I don't know which way to run with it so I'm asking the collective wisdom of RDP.
 
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Waffles

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Tow company with CHP/Sheriff/PD contract and repo rigs.
A coworker had a tow company in Flagstaff and I know she made bank. Only downside to it is dealing with all the disgruntled people that had their shit towed. It's not for everyone lol

Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk
 

WhatExit?

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main-qimg-d9ea2671670efe9ee400059edad0b277-c
 

HotRod82

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If you know anything about real estate, construction, and rentals, a million bucks is pretty good stake money ....just don't be a slum lord.
OR
give that million bucks to a well vetted investment firm.
 

Mike Honcho

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How about gas stations, I almost did this had a few friends that owned some and couldn't believe the cash flow on the mini marts alone.
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RE: Newly Remodeled Shell Gas Station! Broker: George L. Massalas
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Year Established: 2017

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Brand New Shell Gas Station!
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DrunkenSailor

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I think the question should be what do you want to start. My firm is registered bidder with all the big commercial brokers. Want to run a hotel in la jolla? How about an rv Park at the river? Unfinished residential project at lake of the Ozarks on the water with docks? Bar on the beach in the caymans? Restaurant overlooking diamond head in hi? Weed tour company in denver? I would start with something you know something about and pick something you want to do. You might make it you might not but at least you tried. I like most Americans am too Damn scared to even try.
 

Go-Fly

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The next big business is going to be, pay check management for Millennial's. The parents are doing this now. It sounds funny to people that are independent but, there is going to be big money in taking care of Millennial's cash flow and help paying bills on time. Small start up cost but many hours of new creative ways of presentation. If I was younger, I'd do this in a heart beat.
 

Racey

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The next big business is going to be, pay check management for Millennial's. The parents are doing this now. It sounds funny to people that are independent but, there is going to be big money in taking care of Millennial's cash flow and help paying bills on time. Small start up cost but many hours of new creative ways of presentation. If I was younger, I'd do this in a heart beat.

It blows my mind that our education system has produced a product that has arrived at this. You are probably on to something here though.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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It blows my mind that our education system has produced a product that has arrived at this. You are probably on to something here though.


Someone will just make an app. It probably already exists. Millennials don’t want to interact with anyone.

You deposit your check to them, they pay all your bills for a few, and drop the remainder in an account. What happens when you don’t have enough to pay the bills.. who knows.

They are already doing that with the “Fair” car app. It is one monthly all in payment, you can switch cars whenever you want supposedly.
 

DaveC

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Stop it. Keep it to yourself. You are just giving away a million dollar idea.

You know home many of them there are in this country.

:p

Someone will just make an app. It probably already exists. Millennials don’t want to interact with anyone.

You deposit your check to them, they pay all your bills for a few, and drop the remainder in an account. What happens when you don’t have enough to pay the bills.. who knows.

They are already doing that with the “Fair” car app. It is one monthly all in payment, you can switch cars whenever you want supposedly.
 

Englewood

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Buy apartments...

I'd take the $1m, use it as a down for a $2m apartment complex. Your job will be managing the property and spending time there to upgrade it. The people that own apartments have stupid money.
 

DaveC

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Beer distributor. Oh you said a million $. Nevermind. :p
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Buy apartments...

I'd take the $1m, use it as a down for a $2m apartment complex. Your job will be managing the property and spending time there to upgrade it. The people that own apartments have stupid money.

This. All of this.

And you have an assest that will appreciate over time.

If bought right, you are profitable at 1/2 to 2/3 occupancy.
 

CJ_Donahue

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Storage Business with Equipment rentals. Long term investment with a solid cash flow for the short term. Everyone has more crap than they need these days and the old timers willing to loan their tools are fading away.
 

thetub

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apartment rentals in Kalifornia be aware

this business is being attacked by the liberal pukes too. be careful of this idea now especially in Kalifornia. Repeal of prop. 13 and now rent control .
along with eviction laws in Kalifornia. along with discrimination laws. you cannot even word "apartment located nears schools" cause its discriminating peole who do not have kids.

prop. 13 is going to kill this business.

it could cost $5000 to $10,000 to evict someone. Nothing better than watching a drug addict laughing at you while not paying you for 6 months and his supposed robbin hood lawyer taking your profits. The state actually pays these thieves (law firms). Never really wanted to attack a person but watching a slime ball lawyer in court waltz around in court as he is fu-king you over is a hard pill to swallow. see hes robbin hood that pulls up in his brand new ferrari and im the scumbag landlord that pulls up in his 11 year old pick up truck..

and theres liberal pukes on this forum who believe in this shit.

you would be surprised what repair bills are after some of these people move out is after staying even after a couple of years. its crazy how people live.

and its harder to screen now as people are cons now. after the crash of 2008 the kids of these parents learned to con their way out of and into.

sorry rant over.


and the 4 am emergencies are always a welcome especially when out of town.
 

lakemadness

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R/E.

Rentals, flips, mini storage, warehousing. All have proven to provide great returns for me. Hardest part is finding the deal. If you can find a good deal all other things fall in place.

I have other businesses- Property management/maintenance and also restaurants. For the cash input and time R/E has the best outcome hands down.
 

lakemadness

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I'm in the middle of the due diligence process of buying a fire protection business. Seems like a good business with potential for growth as fire codes become more and more common across all constructions types. Right now the company only does new install, dont have a service or maintenance side. So theres big upside if we can start a service side with recurring revenue.

Point being, find something with potential for new growth and upside...
 

ChumpChange

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I'm in the middle of the due diligence process of buying a fire protection business. Seems like a good business with potential for growth as fire codes become more and more common across all constructions types. Right now the company only does new install, dont have a service or maintenance side. So theres big upside if we can start a service side with recurring revenue.

Point being, find something with potential for new growth and upside...

I know of a couple if you have any questions on some of their issues/struggles.
 

LakeBeard

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I would start a "Floating Market" on Havasu Lake w/ a delivery service. It would be like a normal convince store that you could drive your boat up too grab beer and ice or whatever and be on your way. I would have a few boats that would deliver food, ice and beer.
 

ChumpChange

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Posted this yesterday, it was mistakenly deleted so here it is again.

If you had up to a Million dollars to start a business, what would you start?

Little kicker, if it cost's a million, it has to be an existing business with proven cash flow.

If it's a ground up business, can't be more than 400-500k.

I've been given an amazing opportunity and I don't know which way to run with it so I'm asking the collective wisdom of RDP.

Although it's my background, financing other businesses at ridiculous rates of return. :D
 

nameisbond

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I like flipping cars. Id start a boutique dealership. Id mostly carry stuff that appeals to my generation. I'm 45, so gen x.
 

Englewood

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apartment rentals in Kalifornia be aware

this business is being attacked by the liberal pukes too. be careful of this idea now especially in Kalifornia. Repeal of prop. 13 and now rent control .
along with eviction laws in Kalifornia. along with discrimination laws. you cannot even word "apartment located nears schools" cause its discriminating peole who do not have kids.

prop. 13 is going to kill this business.

it could cost $5000 to $10,000 to evict someone. Nothing better than watching a drug addict laughing at you while not paying you for 6 months and his supposed robbin hood lawyer taking your profits. The state actually pays these thieves (law firms). Never really wanted to attack a person but watching a slime ball lawyer in court waltz around in court as he is fu-king you over is a hard pill to swallow. see hes robbin hood that pulls up in his brand new ferrari and im the scumbag landlord that pulls up in his 11 year old pick up truck..

and theres liberal pukes on this forum who believe in this shit.

you would be surprised what repair bills are after some of these people move out is after staying even after a couple of years. its crazy how people live.

and its harder to screen now as people are cons now. after the crash of 2008 the kids of these parents learned to con their way out of and into.

sorry rant over.


and the 4 am emergencies are always a welcome especially when out of town.

While I hate liberals as much as anyone, this is not all entirely true. The state does not pay attorneys to represent tenants in unlawful detainer cases.

With good screening, we can predict with a 98% certainty that a tenant will not force eviction proceedings. The amount of information we get on potential tenants is mind-blowing. Prop 13 and rent control will not kill this business. There will not be wide spread adoption of rent control.

This. All of this.

And you have an assest that will appreciate over time.

If bought right, you are profitable at 1/2 to 2/3 occupancy.

The best part is that if a tenant leaves, depending on the amount of doors, you could still have 90%+ occupancy. In a single family home, if the tenant leaves, you lose 100% of the monthly income.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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The best part is that if a tenant leaves, depending on the amount of doors, you could still have 90%+ occupancy. In a single family home, if the tenant leaves, you lose 100% of the monthly income.

100% Correct. I am just starting but anything I buy or look at is 2 or more doors, unless I was in a position to buy more than one single family home at a time.

With the duplexes, if I can't cover costs +/- $100 or so with 1 vacancy, I move on.
 
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thetub

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While I hate liberals as much as anyone, this is not all entirely true. The state does not pay attorneys to represent tenants in unlawful detainer cases.

With good screening, we can predict with a 98% certainty that a tenant will not force eviction proceedings. The amount of information we get on potential tenants is mind-blowing. Prop 13 and rent control will not kill this business. There will not be wide spread adoption of rent control.



The best part is that if a tenant leaves, depending on the amount of doors, you could still have 90%+ occupancy. In a single family home, if the tenant leaves, you lose 100% of the monthly income.

dont want to argue. but theres a shit ton of "non profit" firms along with state funded programs. the new thing is that homelessness is cause of the dirty landlord.

and i dont know how you can screen someone with court sealed documents.

and prop 13 will double and triple what it costs now.

this is coming from the horses mouth and experience who does this shit and keeps costs down. just the honest truth.

theres 4 or 5 cities trying to get rent control on the ballot now Long Beach, Glendale and others.

wish it wasnt true but im a realist
 

HotRod82

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apartment rentals in Kalifornia be aware

this business is being attacked by the liberal pukes too. be careful of this idea now especially in Kalifornia. Repeal of prop. 13 and now rent control .
along with eviction laws in Kalifornia. along with discrimination laws. you cannot even word "apartment located nears schools" cause its discriminating peole who do not have kids.

prop. 13 is going to kill this business.

it could cost $5000 to $10,000 to evict someone. Nothing better than watching a drug addict laughing at you while not paying you for 6 months and his supposed robbin hood lawyer taking your profits. The state actually pays these thieves (law firms). Never really wanted to attack a person but watching a slime ball lawyer in court waltz around in court as he is fu-king you over is a hard pill to swallow. see hes robbin hood that pulls up in his brand new ferrari and im the scumbag landlord that pulls up in his 11 year old pick up truck..

and theres liberal pukes on this forum who believe in this shit.

you would be surprised what repair bills are after some of these people move out is after staying even after a couple of years. its crazy how people live.

and its harder to screen now as people are cons now. after the crash of 2008 the kids of these parents learned to con their way out of and into.

sorry rant over.


and the 4 am emergencies are always a welcome especially when out of town.

lol....bad experience?
 

thetub

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lol....bad experience?

just stories ive heard from a good friend whos been doing it for 20 years.

like everything theres good and bad, but seems like more an more bad things are popping up on the list.

like every other business they (kalifornia) sets its sights on. they destroyed everything else except the service and this. and those are next.

the perceived thought is those rich owners. grass is greener mentality. seen here first hand.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Buy this for 1.25 million...

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...ake-Havasu-City_AZ_86403_M26798-03448?view=qv

Throw down $315K down on that.

Loan payment would be around $5K per month.
I have no idea what property taxes would be, call it $10K/year, maybe $5K a year for insurance (I dont know for sure).
Monthly cost is $6250.

$600 a month per unit (that is on the low side) X 18 units is $10,800 in income per month.

@ 11 units you are making a profit. If it is full you are making $4550 a month.
 
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Go-Fly

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It blows my mind that our education system has produced a product that has arrived at this. You are probably on to something here though.
It's the little things that work the best. Years back, I set my sister in law up in an answering service business for the doctors and contractors around town. This was before cell phones but, pagers were being used. I came up with the idea for a baby pager. Mom would call the answering service if the baby was coming while dad was at work, on a job site. Code blue or pink and dad would rush home after the page. You could rent the pager for a month, week or a few days. She paid off her house with that little idea. Go-Fly took his 10%.
 

HotRod82

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Buy this for 1.25 million...

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...ake-Havasu-City_AZ_86403_M26798-03448?view=qv

Throw down $315K down on that.

Loan payment would be around $5K per month.
I have no idea what property taxes would be, call it $10K/year, maybe $5K a year for insurance (I dont know for sure).
Monthly cost is $6250.

$600 a month per unit (that is on the low side) X 18 units is $10,800 in income per month.

@ 11 units you are making a profit. If it is full you are making $4550 a month.

In my experience you are much better off with a higher end clientele......The lower end crowd means high turn over and drama in general.
So far, my recipe for
just stories ive heard from a good friend whos been doing it for 20 years.

like everything theres good and bad, but seems like more an more bad things are popping up on the list.

like every other business they (kalifornia) sets its sights on. they destroyed everything else except the service and this. and those are next.

the perceived thought is those rich owners. grass is greener mentality. seen here first hand.

Yeah I hear you, nothing in CA is easy to navigate. I can tell you in my case, rentals are easier than my commercial HVAC biz ever was. The big difference is I have zero employees. I have a property manager so I rarely meet any of the tenants. IMO you have to stay higher end....any low rent property is going to be a nightmare.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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In my experience you are much better off with a higher end clientele......The lower end crowd means high turn over and drama in general.
So far, my recipe for

I do agree with you there. Dealing with the peeps will require some time.
 

thetub

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In my experience you are much better off with a higher end clientele......The lower end crowd means high turn over and drama in general.
So far, my recipe for


Yeah I hear you, nothing in CA is easy to navigate. I can tell you in my case, rentals are easier than my commercial HVAC biz ever was. The big difference is I have zero employees. I have a property manager so I rarely meet any of the tenants. IMO you have to stay higher end....any low rent property is going to be a nightmare.

yes but rent control is rent control and prop taxes doubling and tripling is what it is high end or not. would you consider Glendale or Pasadena high end?

and my friend has been burned by those high end clientele also they know the laws and how to work them better than anyone.

triple net or boat rv storage would be the got to. the problem in Kalif storage is m3 zoning so guess whos buying those up. Marjuana

i get its better than your own business been there done that is a whole other level of a nightmare also.

just my honest opinion to keep yore eyes out for other things or diversify into other stuff. Ive always hated stocks but have learned they "government" will never let it stay tanked like in 2008 and will always make perceived as the most stable investment cause all those whore politcians are invested as well. and will always be with insider trading going on at those levels. just my 2 pennies worth of opinion/

might actually start looking in that direction. friggin paper pushing boy now...
 
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Wavemaker

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Buy apartments...

I'd take the $1m, use it as a down for a $2m apartment complex. Your job will be managing the property and spending time there to upgrade it. The people that own apartments have stupid money.

Yes, that’s what I was taught to do. Make your money work for you. Save up a large enough amount of cash to purchase an apartment building that requires up dating for that is located in a good neighborhood. Keep the property and units clean, nicely landscaped that requires minimal gardening effort. Install coin-op washing machines in the laundry room, with free or pay per load dryers. Keep rents updated to the “going levels” of the area. Be a good and friendly property manager to your tenents by handling any issues that come up quickly and fairly. When you have enough savings buy another building and continue to operate as discribed above. Keep buying more units as as you can reasonably afford. Works for my wife and I. We both worked our respective daily jobs for our respective employers, all the while investing in ourselves for wealth growth and a good retirement future.
 

MohavValley

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While I hate liberals as much as anyone, this is not all entirely true. The state does not pay attorneys to represent tenants in unlawful detainer cases.

No they don't but the thieving lawyers request a trail by jury in response to the UD that takes months then they offer to settle for 5k to10k because they know that's what it'll cost you to go through the process even if the defendant/tenant has clearly violated the contract. Some weaker LL's pay it and they get paid big time, tenant gets 6 months free rent and a little money (for destroying their credit, if the LL pays to report it) or makes the effort to recover the judgement.

Check out BASTA, they operate under the guise of helping "poor tenants" but they are f-in thieves that advertise on Craigslist for clients so they can hold up LLs.

Besides don't you know that landlords collecting rent and evicting for non payment is the number one cause of poverty ( according to Melinals), theres a book that claims this as it's premise. Absolutely F-in ridiculous!

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/...-poverty-and-profit-in-the-american-city.html

.
 
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thetub

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R/E.

Rentals, flips, mini storage, warehousing. All have proven to provide great returns for me. Hardest part is finding the deal. If you can find a good deal all other things fall in place.

I have other businesses- Property management/maintenance and also restaurants. For the cash input and time R/E has the best outcome hands down.


Meadness would construction or remodeling of peoples regular homes be a natural for you?

seems between yore wife and you this would be great alternate business? if people like yore flips they would like yore remodel jobs too?

was thinking this for myself ?
 

kevin1988

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Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I currently manage my parent's fast food franchisee. They own two of them and a few years ago they had 4, but started selling them off. They also own 5 salon franchisees. So I am familiar with franchisees and all the support they offer over a one off concept.

At one point I was managing 3 locations with 40 employees. And had all the associated headaches. I do not want a restaurant or a 24/7 business. I have a hell of a time finding employees for a 9am-12am business.

Ideally I'm looking for something that has minimal employees that are quickly trained, or a business that can afford higher paid employees (19/hr+)

I really like the idea of buying a few acres, paving it and putting a fence up and having RV/boat storage. Does anyone happen to know any other cost associated with a storage business?
 

lakemadness

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Meadness would construction or remodeling of peoples regular homes be a natural for you?

seems between yore wife and you this would be great alternate business? if people like yore flips they would like yore remodel jobs too?

was thinking this for myself ?

No thanks, I couldn’t handle working for someone wanting to remodel their personal home. No way. I do flips completely on the side of my other businesses.
 

kevin1988

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Buy apartments...

I'd take the $1m, use it as a down for a $2m apartment complex. Your job will be managing the property and spending time there to upgrade it. The people that own apartments have stupid money.

I've heard you need to have stupid money to pay for repairs, vacancies ect..
 

johnnyC

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I would stay away from gas/food-marts, unless you have employees that will show up for work, that are not thieves, if cash or a vice product is involved your employees and customers WILL steal it from you on a daily basis, it takes really tight inventory-cash control and monitoring of products for sale and employees and the sales themselves its a 24-7 job kinda like slavery,it takes several to make a lot of money, unless you have the perfect location, most really successful locations are family run and owned
 

Mandelon

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I think it depends on how involved you want to be. After 25 years of running my own business, I am pretty tired of employees and customers. I'd want something that is pretty hands free. Buy a commercial building with a few units and just collect rent. It seems so much easier. You have to budget for periodic maintenance and management but you won't have to hear why Pedro can't make it in on Monday... yet again.
 
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