Alex Kramb, 15, Buys His First Investment Property

At our March real estate investors’ meeting, I described a mobile home in a park that we had for sale. Mouths dropped open as I showed nasty pictures of the disgusting property.

How bad was it? The home was full of dog poop. The toilet bowl was so bad that a commercial-grade sandblaster couldn’t clean it. There were gaping holes where the furnace and water heater used to be. The smell made you gag and caused your eyes to water. It was plain awful!

I asked the room full of experienced real estate investors whether anyone wanted to make an offer on this cesspool of an investment property. Heads turned away and eyes were diverted.

In the back of the room, Alex Kramb, a fifteen-year-old student at Blessed Trinity High School, stood up and said, “Mr. Cook, I’ll pay you $100 for that mobile home.” I was dumbfounded. As I pointed to the screen, I asked, “Alex, you’ll pay me $100 for THAT hunk-of-junk?” He quickly answered, “Yes, sir!”

Alex proudly walked up front. We wrote up a bill of sale, I collected $100 cash money and then handed Alex the keys. With that, Alex Kramb, at 15, bought his first investment property. Investors looked on in amazement…then cheers broke out in the room!

I’ve known grown men who’ve spent decades thinking about getting into real estate investing. Sadly, lock-down fear keeps them from doing their first deal. And then we have Alex Kramb, who’s too young to drive, vote or serve in the armed forces, and he’s out there doing his first deal. Ab uno disce omnes! (Hey, I also went to Catholic school and can whip out a little Latin when it’s needed.)

So why did Alex want to buy the trailer – and why did I agree to sell it to him?

Dyches Boddiford, my longtime mentor, taught me a very important lesson a few years back. We’ve all heard the saying: When you die, you can’t take it with you. That’s W-R-O-N-G! When you die, you take EVERYTHING with you – all of your knowledge, experience, wisdom, etc. So, if you want to make a difference in people’s lives, you must share what you know and have while you’re alive – because when you’re gone, it’s gone.

Alex has great parents – Pat and Jean Kramb. Both are top-notch real estate investors. With this deal, they get to teach Alex – even though, with this deal, Alex is THEIR boss – the ins and outs of being a successful real estate investor.

You know what I love best about this deal? At 15, Alex is learning that laboring for a dollar is the most inefficient and heavily taxed way to earn a dollar, and that owning investment property and getting mailbox money is the sweetest money in the world!

Godspeed on your life’s journey, Alex. Kim and I are very, very proud of you!

Bill & Kim Cook are a husband and wife real estate investing team. They live in Adairsville, Georgia and have been investing in real estate since 1995. They specialize in buying single-family homes, mobile homes and mobile home parks. They also run North Georgia REIA and teach folks how to successfully invest in real estate.