Tag Archives: REAL ESTATE

Ways not to screw up a 1031

May 31, 20191031, Capital gains, REAL ESTATE, tax1031, Capital gains, REAL ESTATE, taxchallenyee

Hey BNB peeps! Let’s talk more about saving money when selling an investment property in order to buy another one.

You don’t want to end up like the poor rabbit in the painting.

More about 1031s

Here is a little detail you want to keep in mind when calculating how much capital gains you could get stuck with in selling your property, after all, the reason you are doing a 1031 is to avoid paying taxes on capital gains (CGs).

If you determine that you are not going to have any taxable gains, you do not need to do a 1031.

Simple formula to remember to estimate the amount of gain that will be subject to CGs: Sale price minus Commissions and escrow costs minus Depreciation value of the home.

Key thing: You do not deduct your mortgage from the capital gain calculation.

Another Key thing: The value of your sale does not include your Depreciation.

For example: If you sell a home for $1,000,000 ($1M) and your commission and escrow are $50,000 and your depreciation is $400,000, your Capital Gains would be… $550,000.

BUT, the value of your sale would be …. $950,000

This calcalation is important to get straight in your effort to think through your 1031.

You do not want to underestimate your sale price of your “relinquished property” when you are trying to conduct a 1031 Exchange.

Again, a 1031 Exchange is designed to help people who are selling an investment property to buy another investment property while protecting them from paying taxes on their capital gains.

Now about calculating the value of the relinquished property, there is a qualification for a proper 1031: You must buy into a property that is at least EQUAL OR GREATER VALUE.

So take the previous example: If you are going to purchase a “replacement property” for $750,000, you will need to either buy another property within 180 days or buy another qualified investment property so that your total reinvestment meets or exceeds $950,000 to have a valid 1031 transaction.

In other words, if you only plan to spend $750,000 to purchase a replacement and you think you are done – PLEASE think again. This one transaction will not qualify the 1031.

Better yet, go and talk to a 1031 Exchange Officer for a reputable 1031 firm and ask him or her these important questions ( DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional or certified 1031 dude, but I want you to make sure you’ve got all your facts together).

Worst comes to worst, you can park the remainder of your unused 1031 funds into a special 1031 “fund” that will be the equivalent to buying a replacement property if you cannot find the right property to purchase and use all of your proceeds, but it would be helpful if you have all the numbers figured out before you begin the process, especially if you are only intending to target one investment property.

A last note for today: If you decide to do a 1031, be prepared for some escrow delays as doing the necessary paperwork or setting up LLCs is extra work, requiring special contracts, registering LLCs, and often requires some additional government oversight (more paperwork).

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

To Party or not to Party

May 29, 2019BNB, HOSTING, PALO ALTO, REAL ESTATE, SILICON VALLEY, TRAVELBNB, BUSINESS, HOSTING, REAL ESTATE, TRAVELchallenyee

Have you ever wondered if it was worth lending your house to someone who wanted to have a one-day “celebration”?

Especially if you do not have built in book-end days before your next potential booking, meaning that you only have a few hours to clean between different bookings, here are 8 reasons why you should NOT book to guests wanting to use your house for their party space:

People just do not care as much about being clean when they don’t have to live there. Especially all the extra guests who don’t plan on staying over night who are not signing an agreement to any house rules. I’m not saying that people are necessarily bad, they just do not have as much at stake to keep things clean.
A party will fill your garbage cans quickly with smelly rotting food mixed with alcohol to smell just like a back alley sewer in San Francisco.
Large amounts of alcohol result in inebriated people who spill liquids, make floors sticky and harder to clean, along with your arm chair, sofa and tables.
Inebriated adults cannot supervise young children.
The responsible adults are policing the inebriated adults, and are not watching their children, or they are watching their children and are not watching the inebriate adults. Hell, they could be inebriated, cause, hosts just want to have fun.
You can attract unwanted attention by creating a parking lot in front of your place.
Especially if you have a no-shoes-in-the-house rule, which one-day guest/host is going to police their one day visitors to take their shoes off as they go in and out of your house wth a tray of food and drinks?
Remember, outdoor shoes carry floor destroying micro and macro matter and have stepped through many public bathrooms. Enough said.

The end result is, even if you charge extra for cleaning, you will have to spend more time cleaning and risk damages that you have to go through the process of proving, not to mention the anxiety wondering if any of this is true.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

Tips on Saving Time in Escrow (REVERSE 1031)

April 20, 20191031, BNB, escrow, REAL ESTATEBNB, escrow, REAL ESTATE, Reverse 1031challenyee

Hey BNB Peeps!

Here’s some thoughts about how you can save time in Escrow involving a Reverse 1031.

Most people may not be aware of how a 1031 affects an Escrow, so you can be sure that even less people know the effect of a REVERSE 1031.

A REVERSE 1031 requires the creation of an LLC for the Exchange Accommodate TITLEHOLDER , also known as the EAT, where the title of the replacement property is held.

In the regular 1031, CASH is held in a special account, but since I have not done a regular 1031 yet, I will not say whether it is an LLC or NOT. In a Reverse 1031, the TITLE is held in a special account. An EAT is specifically for a REVERSE 1031.

TALK TO YOUR 1031 ADVISOR about this LLC detail and how it may affect the purchase agreement.

THEREFORE, you real estate lawyers and escrow officers, the Purchase Agreement must have an amendment to accommodate the LLC of the buyer. If you know this ahead of time you can get the real estate attorney to prepare the amendment to the purchase agreement ASAP, before he or she decides to take a week off without his lap top and cell phone.

Sometimes it takes so long to nail down a purchase agreement, it just helps to know this detail beforehand to smooth things out when you think everything is supposed to be on autopilot.

BTW, Buyers have the option of keeping the LLC after the escrow is closed, so buyers need to carefully consider the actual name of the LLC that is created.

My second thought about saving time in escrow, is working with a LAW GROUP or at least a legal professionals who have a backup in case they need to go on vacation or get sick, run off to Jamaica, or anything else that can interfere with getting work done when needed.

Is it ever possible that lawyers can work together in a way that is collaborative and to save time? Ugh.

Even if your Escrow officer and you 1031 Exchange Officer are from a Title/Escrow company and its affiliate, do not assume that days will be saved based on what I just tried to explain to you.

ANYWAY, the next time you find yourself in a 1031 situation, I hope his little information will help.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

Need for two new Fruit Trees

April 1, 2019BNB, DECOR, PALO ALTO, PaloAltoBNB, TRAVELBNB, DECOR, DESIGN, landscaping, PALO ALTO, PaloAltoBNB, REAL ESTATE, TRAVEL, Treeschallenyee

The tree on the left and the third tree had to come down, they stopped moving water. This photo was from the fall of 2017.

Apparently, apricot trees are pretty sensitive.

After landscaping the back yard in the summer of 2017, the two apricot trees in the backyard died.

The one large tree actually blossoms in the spring of 2018 but then suddenly went dry.

We tried to do some deep watering but that didn’t matter.

I had to chop down one the larger of the two trees last summer and just recently had to chop down the smaller of the two, realizing that it was not responding to the season and had in fact followed suit with the other, just decided to stop moving water from its roots.

With two spots open for fruit trees, what kind of fruit trees do you like?

We definitely would like to get at least one more apricot.

(No promises just yet, as to how consistently I can blog here, but giving it a shot when I have time and ideas).

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

What is a REVERSE 1031?

March 29, 2019BNB, REAL ESTATE1031, BNB, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, REAL ESTATE, Reverse 1031challenyee

In your efforts to secure a property for your BNB you may run into a situation where you are selling an investment property to obtain a replacement investment property.

For those of you who do not understand what a 1031 Exchange is, here is a brief summary.

You can defer capital gains on selling an investment property if you set up a 1031 carefully (adhering to all 1031 rules) pipe it to another investment property of equal value or greater.

It can be any kind of real estate to any kind of real estate, anything from undeveloped land, to commercial property, as long as both are qualified Investment properties.

Normally, you sell an investment property, use the proceeds from that sale to fund the purchase of your new replacement investment property.

WHAT IF, you need to purchase the replacement property (i.e. with cash) before you can sell the relinquished property to fund the new acquisition? You are totally screwed, right?

What I discovered, someone in their infinite wisdom created a 1031 instrument called a “REVERSE” 1031.

This way, the title to the replacement property is held in a special Exchange Accommodated Titleholder (EAT) until such time you can close the sale of your relinquished property thereby accomplishing the desired deferring of capital gains.

Please speak to a qualified 1031 Exchange Intermediary or Agent to get the full details as there are different costs involved and other requirements that I have not covered in this blog article.

Good Luck.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

Pay Mortgage on or after the 1st.

March 26, 2019BNB, MANAGEMENT, PaloAltoBNB, REAL ESTATEaccounting, BNB, PaloAltoBNB, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, REAL ESTATEchallenyee

Hey all, Just a short accounting tip for your BNB and to let you know that we are still alive and running our BNB.

In the meantime, here’s an easy accounting tip.

If you are making mortgage payments for your property, it helps cleanup your accounting if you do not make your payments before the 1st of the month that your payment is due for.

In other words, if you need to make a mortgage payment for April, make the payment April 1st or sometime after that and before the date that you will get charged a late payment. If you want to make January’s payment, do it in January.

For example, even though you might get anxious and send out some kind of bizarre positive thoughts into the netherworld of computerized mortgage transactions, maybe trying to earn some kind of imaginary digital karma, better not to make the payment on March 29 since your accounting software may want to apply all charges to the month you actually make the payment – this gets more complicated if you have any compounded charges on your mortgage like your landlords or flood insurance… and it looks goofy on your annual summary.

Essentially, this is helpful is when you do your tax accounting for the year everything just makes more sense. Your payments correspond to the appropriate month and if you’re talking about January’s payment, the correct year.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

9 Tips for Facing an Unoccupied Month

February 10, 2019BNB, BRANDING, HOSTING, MANAGEMENT, PaloAltoBNB, TRAVELBNB, HOSTING, PaloAltoBNB, REAL ESTATE, TRAVELchallenyee

Have you ever looked at your BNB schedule and see that after your current guest, you have no one booked for the next 30 days. It does give you a sinking feeling, especially if you’re relying on the income to survive.

Does your reservation calendar look like an empty beach? (photo of Drake’s Bay, CA north of San Francisco – by Challen)

There’s a number of things you can either try or consider since running a BNB you can’t really go out and start rounding up guests passing by with a lasso.

Here’s 9 tips, not in any particular order:

(1) Update your website or listing with new photos, better photos, or a catchy write up or title. So many listing around her promote Stanford, and if the listing actually resides in or near Stanford, that’s a good boost.

(2) Try lowering your prices under the next relevant search level. For example, lower them under the next $50 mark (i.e $250, $300, $350, $400, $450, etc). Searchers may be setting upper price limits to narrow down their choices.

(3)Take some faith in how guests tend to book your listing. Maybe you’ve had a lot of guests book within a week instead of two months ahead (like we’d all like to see that).

(4) Try “Instant Booking” (Airbnb). What this allows is for greater exposure to your listing as your will show up for both “Instant” and non-instant, instead of just non-instant listings.

(5) Try removing the extra guest costs if you are using them just to make the cost calculation easier.

(6) Update you listing to become more friendly to a guest. For example, use a keypad or other self-service mode of entry. This way a business man or woman doesn’t need to call you at 2 am to get a key or wonder if the key is actually in the hideaway place that you wrote.

(7) Offer something special (like food or other service), make the stay more attractive.

(8) Keep the darn place clean inside and in good order outside. It doesn’t matter of the guest is staying at a mansion or Motel 6,they want a clean place to stay. No one likes to stay in a beater. Take very positive steps and make amends in the listing and comments to make your listing a non-beater if yov’ve been reviewed as being on the dirty, trashy, or nasty side.

(9) Treat each guest and inquiry with respect and respond as soon as possible (if not immediately). Remember, you are in the hospitality business, not just a landlord or property manager. In fact, you may be the only ambassador of your town or neighborhood that the guest from another country may ever know.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions, or if you’ve got some nice tips.

CKY

BNB Value vs Property Tax

January 27, 2019BNB, BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, Property Tax, TRAVELBNB, BUSINESS, PALO ALTO, PaloAltoBNB, Prop 58, Property Tax, REAL ESTATE, SILICON VALLEYchallenyee

Here’s a Palo Alto near-specific problem.

Please see the appropriate professionally certified advisor before making decisions based on what you find in the article’s content.

AND See legal Disclaimer at bottom.

Ok, let’s get on with the article…

Everyone complains about the prices in Silicon Valley, but Palo Alto takes the cake.

In a recent news article, the Palo Alto Zip Code 94301 is the record holder for highest average priced real estate in the nation, which generally translates to, expensive to own real estate, not just expensive to buy.

PROPERTY TAXES

California’s property tax which amount to about 1.1% of your market value. That is, unless you fall under Prop 13/58 protections. There are usually other additional costs attached to your property tax, like county services or other smaller taxes, but 1.1% is the California State chunk the would be often more than most people’s salaries. Let’s call the full market value times 1.1% “RULE #1”.

So you City Planners, before you let a company like Google or Facebook start a big office in your little town, make sure your residents will likely be hammered with ever increasing home property values and therefore RULE #1. (unless you are in a State that does not tax property).

It may be possible you might qualify to be waived from the market rate-based property taxes on inherited property. That’s assuming the aggregate base factor for your parents property tax is under 1M.

SOME RELIEF IF YOU

QUALIFY AND APPLY

BASE FACTOR IS, for those of you who do not know, the value the property tax is based on when your parent died, NOT the market value. Please consult with a Tax Advisor, but you need to APPLY for the Prop 58 Exemption (for investment properties). IF YOU DO NOT APPLY you will suffer the consequences and your children will hate you for life for being such a ignorant poofball. Be alert, this application is time dependent after the death of your parent.

There’s good news: if the house was your parent’s primary residence, you have a 100% exemption to reassessment to market, unless you have to buy portions of it from your siblings then RULE #1 applies. Once again, please consult with a Tax Advisor who is educated in estate law and property tax laws if there is a chance you can avoid RULE #1.

And as you know, finding a single property under $1M in this area is virtually impossible in Palo Alto (unless you’re talking about EAST Palo Alto). However, if your aggregate investment properties’ BASE FACTOR all amount to less than $1M, you will have a complete Prop 58 exemption (please see disclaimer at bottom of article). If the aggregate Base Value exceeds $1M, then you will need to select which $1M of value will receive the exemption. The others will be reassessed at current market value.

The other good news is, if you have to speak to the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor’s Office, you will find some professional and helpful clerks to make sure you are pointed to the right info related to some tax exemption possibilities. Please seek their guidance and CHECK IF THESE RULES APPLY TO YOU.

My little RULE #1 RANT

The sad fact is, in order for a lot of residents of this area to survive, they need to rent out a room or a “granny unit” to someone to have the extra income to pay for the drudgery of RULE #1. Keep in mind what I said, many rent out just to pay the property tax, not to have extra money to send the kids to college or pay for a vacation – just to pay the damned tax.

SO the injustice is, the only people who can afford to pay the higher taxes are even more wealthy people while the less wealthy people get screwed because all of a sudden their taxes are unreal. SO…., just some dynamics to think about in regards to taxing people to kingdom come linked to their private property or even their primary residence values… values that they have little or no control over. Sounds like slick way to rip off private property.

So which State doesn’t charge property tax?

So what does this have to do with a BNB?

Some link VALUE to NIGHTLY RATES

While it is true that there is supply and demand for accommodation services, and that raises the average price of lodging in Palo Alto and the surrounding areas, the tax responsibility is probably not on the radar of the average guest who decides to report to the world that, “there wasn’t enough value for the price at your place” (when in actuality it’s the whole expensive area, not just your place). Well…. one 4 out of 5 rating isn’t bad, but maybe we’re getting too technical.

I remember the first time we received a “4” for “Value” instead of a “5” from one of our great guests (I’m not being sarcastic, he was an excellent guest), and I actually messaged him privately wondering what his rational was. He was nice enough to give us his point of view citing the area is expensive. Yeh, so even though we should not take it personally, it shows up on the review of our place, not Palo Alto, the City with the most expensive real estate and therefore some of the highest taxes in the United States.

OK, i’m cool now. I promise not to explode.

BTW, I don’t ask guests ever again since the first guy, why they decide on “4” instead of a “5” (LOL).

In actuality, I take a survey of area listings and have to determine what I believe is a “fair” price for what we have to offer. We’re doing alright so far.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions

CKY

Legal Disclaimer: please note, I am not a tax advisor, or claim to have an certification to offer legal advice in the matters mentioned in this article or any post in my blogs, websites or other social media. You MUST consult with the appropriate certified legal representative to determine the facts of any matter related to or mentioned in this article or any article under my domains that may have any legal consequences before making any decisions.

Learn by jumping into chaos

January 25, 2019BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, PaloAltoBNB, REAL ESTATEBUSINESS, PALO ALTO, PaloAltoBNB, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, REAL ESTATE, SILICON VALLEYchallenyee

OR “How I got involved in property management”

My current work involves Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine to being an out to pasture IC Layout Design Engineer, and I definitely did not become a property manager by seeking it out – it unceremoniously yanked me in.

I was drawn into property management to save my mom from trouble and by extension, our whole family from trouble back in 2007. Sound melodramatic? It may have been dramatic, but definitely not mellow.

When I graduated from the Masters Program in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the Spring of 2007 from Five Branches Institute (Santa Cruz, CA) the last thing that was on my mind was becoming a property manager or dealing with problem tenants.

Part of my Chinese and Western Medicine library

The biggest thing on the mind of a TCM graduate is studying to successfully pass the California Licensing exam for Acupuncturist. I had self-sponsored my way through this multi year process and just had about two months to prepare and with hopes of being able to focus on my studying to take that exam in Sacramento. I was ready to embark in my dream of a new life’s work.

I had left my Silicon Valley engineering career on the last day of 2002 and I had completed my Master’s! It was… awesome! It was a mountaintop experience, just having spent 4 years with some of the most kind and amazing people who were the students and teachers. I thought I could just begin a life of a health hermit helping people with their health problems and put the stress of Silicon Valley life behind me.

But NO, fate had another deal waiting for me.

Little did I know that in the previous couple months before my graduation, my mother who managed her own investment properties, was having problems obtaining back rent payments and then received a letter from the tenant complaining about the condition of the property.

Mom, who was about 83 years old at the time, was a kind landlord, though a bit too trusting in her tenants to help take care of her properties, and things were looking a little too legalistic in this one tenant’s written complaint that was carefully worded with some nefarious implications. In other words, it wasn’t just a simple, “Hey, our hot water’s out , could you send a plumber?”

The week after I graduated from Five Branches, I was set to study for my Licensing exam, so I did not go with my mom to visit the property and the tenant. She asked me if I wanted to go, but I wanted to begin studying. I wanted focus, be at one with my studies 😉

To cut to the point, when I heard how the visit went I was bothered. I knew just enough about how things should go to agitate my concern.

Having spent several years working with my parents, helping them with their businesses, full time in the late 1980’s and on my free time in the 1990’s. Spiritually and emotionally, I hardly had time to breath the fresh air, it felt like I was being recalled to military service. (C.K. YEE, we need your ass back out in the front lines, forget your Zen Meditation crap. You better get your seabag loaded on the boat, we’re getting underway) ;(

Considering I was not into property management before this event (though in 1989, I almost went for my real estate license), I am not sure why I was so willing (albeit a bit grudgingly) to take up the burden of dealing with this tenant for my mom but I immediately made clear that I would deal directly with the tenant. I wanted to make sure that my mom (and our family) would take this situation more carefully and so I took the matter into my own hands.

Looking back, I cannot tell you what I saw in myself, to think I was any better qualified to deal with this except, maybe, I would be willing to sit an listen to the tenant like I had practiced so many times with patients…. It’s not that simple though.

Over the next 5 months, I worked with the tenant. Ultimately, they understood they had to move out because we planned to work on the house, which was in need of repairs and that for their safety, they needed to vacate the property.

In the process, I developed a close relationship with a local realtor, who is the most savvy realtor related to East Palo Alto that I’ve ever known, as well as an eviction attorney’s office whose paralegals were God’s gift to mankind, all of who I received valuable advice on landlord-tenant rights and property management.

It was not an easy process. Somehow, I figured out how to navigate the problem which included a few face to-face meetings, many attempts to communicate and even an offer for them to purchase the house, which they chose bail out of the opportunity.

The repair process took over 6 months to finish.

In June 2007, when I graduated from Five Branches, I weighed 150# and by August 2007 , when I took my Acupuncture licensing exam, I weighted 135#. I lost 15 pounds from anxiety and depression at the same time I was studying and managed to pass my Licensing exam. When I learned I passed the exam, it should have been a big-time celebration for me, but it was overshadowed by the ongoing tenant situation.

I received my Acupuncture License in October 2017 and soon began working out of a clinic in nearby Los Altos.

As I recall, there was talk by the Acupuncture Board that we might have to retake the exam due to some alleged cheating by some fringe group, but fortunately, I was saved from that insanity.

Not quite the way I would have planned it but I did it. I DID IT.

Ever since that time, I have been involved in property management. However, due to the hard times of 2008 had to (and was able to) reenter the market as a engineer for several years more (while pursuing Chinese medicine part-time), but that’s how I get started as a property manager.

Please like, share, comment, follow my blog or contact me if you have any questions

CKY

Starting a BNB? 8 Reasons you didn’t think about

January 7, 2019BNB, BUSINESS, PALO ALTO, REAL ESTATE, SILICON VALLEY, TRAVELBNB, BUSINESS, PALO ALTO, REAL ESTATE, SILICON VALLEYchallenyee

So you are thinking about starting a BNB, eh?

A floppy bunny sleeping on the wall, A fine oil painting from a Renaissant or Medieval BNB, 😉 from Stanford Cantor Arts Center – photo by Challen

Here are 8 reasons you may not have thought about yet. Well, maybe you thought of them but you could still use some moral reinforcement.

You do not want a long-term lease. Not only do you not want one, it may become an obstacle. The future of your property is in question and you as a property owner do not want to get caught in a long term lease during a time where you may want or need to sell the property or you may need to move into the home yourself.
You want to maintain the property in excellent condition. You may be a complete anal-retentive owner and want maximum control over the condition of the house by avoiding long term leases. As responsible as a long term tenant may be, they are unlikely to keep the house in as good a condition or correct problems in the same manner as you would.
Your house is better designed for short-term occupants or guests. Most people staying long term have long term storage needs, including for the natural accumulation of stuff. If your place does not have much storage without significant remodeling or improvements, the lack of storage becomes an obvious disadvantage to get the highest lease rates but as a BNB with guests staying less than a month or a day or two, it is not an issue.
You love hospitality. Your long term tenant may think you are a nice responsible property manager, but you are not expected to be responsible in anyway to provide multiple “tenants” with their situational accommodating, being involved with opening the door, responding nicely to people at all times of the day or week, be concerned what impression they get when they see your prepared beds, picking out a guest menu – like what kind of coffee you have ready for their quick breakfast, or if the TV can get a particular movie channel. But you thrive on this kind of work and enjoy helping responsible people make sure they have a nice experience.
You can accept inconsistencies. Not every guest that signs up, stays signed up. You will get cancellations on occasion. Not everyone responds to you the same way. You will get some people who will bend the rules or are not quite as clean as you would hope. On the other hand, you will find where your own routine needs to be more efficient, whether it is how you followup with guest inquiries or how you go through your place to prepare it. After several guests, you will get intended and unintended feedback. No plan starts out perfect nor does it remain perfect. It takes some faith that things work out despite the inconsistencies.
You are a bored panda. It could be in your particular phase of life, you need the daily responsibility of managing a property, maintaining your listing site, website or the marketing strategies you are going to employ.
You have teflon skin. In other words, maybe not what you thought … You can tolerate some jealously, even hatred, from others. Anytime you try to do something that most other people do not, you may incur some adverse reactions for doing something that has the appearance of being successful even though it takes real work to get things going and keeping it going.
You value setting your own destiny. By being in the driver’s seat to make decisions, you control your own destiny and that brings you more peace. This one takes some experience, for example, balancing making money from accepting a variety of guests versus being willing to politely screen out those who don’t meet your standards. If you accept a person who may have triggered your scrub alarm instead of leaping effortlessly over your Shaolin-monk-worthy guest criteria (even if they needed some gentle persuasion), you could likely subject yourself to the hell of wondering what’s going to go wrong until they arrive and leave (assuming they don’t cancel at the last minute). Hence, you may be able to hit the abort switch to be at peace rather than make a few more bucks.