Slow living and Mindful Choices is central to what we do at Shiki Hill Studio - literally and figuratively. Here is our story about how accumulation of mindful choices result in materialization of a vision. How did we get here?

As noted in our About page and this journal, we started later in life than most couples due to different choices made in our 20's and 30's. Fortunately though, we both had high-tech jobs in the Bay Area; one of the benefits of these jobs was the granting of equities from our respective companies. Both of us grew up in an era that defined responsible financial planning as save, save, save, and save some more. Debt was considered detrimental to the 'save and save' paradigm. However, we began to educate ourselves (accurate information and modeling can be hard to find), we learned that the mortgage on an investment property was very different from credit card debt, and that reframing how we thought about borrowing changed everything for us. This is because the interest on these loans is generally tax-deductible, and the loans are typically used for home equity changes (i.e., remodels and property purchases).

Using our new equities (after 1 year to ensure long-term capital gains) and this new education, Maggie and I purchased our first investment property. It was a simple 1 bedroom / 1.5 bathroom condominium nearby to our primary residence. The goal was to establish a long term lease with monthly rent that at least covered the mortgage payment. We were fortunate enough to find a young couple who took fantastic care of the property and stayed with us for 6 years. Jonathan and Erin, if you read this, thank you for being such great tenants. The place was in better condition when they left than when they arrived. They moved out just before COVID to find a bigger place for their new baby. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we were unable to find any suitable tenants and so we sold that property. But, this was the beginning of bigger things to come; we took the equity gain from that property sale and invested it in mutual funds - we wanted the money to continue to grow while we figured out our next investment steps.

While we still had the rental condo, we purchased our second investment property: a single family home in Florida (nearby to family). We worked hard to update and maintain the property while we rented it to 'snow birds', however, the seasonality of the rentals meant that it was never profitable in a strictly financial sense. We agreed to hold the property though because the investment was more for family-relationship building than financial gain.

In 2017, we started looking for our next home for ourselves. We made a list of must-have criteria. The list started as the usual things that most people look for: nice kitchen, nice baths, quiet neighborhood, etc. However, we decided instead to think about "what would we do there?", "where is 'there'?", "how do we envision our day-to-day 10-15 years from now?", "what makes us happy?" and "who are we really making this purchase for, i.e., ourselves or future buyers?". This was a dramatic shift from our previous thinking about the physical and aesthetic characteristics of a property.

This was the beginning of 'slow and mindful thinking and living'.

Some of the answers to the above questions included: we enjoy projects and creating and evolving, we need the quietness of rural communities but easy access to retail and medical services, we want a slower lifestyle than what the Bay Area can allow, and we are making this purchase as a long-term investment in ourselves with less focus on ROI financially.

After many false starts and numerous rejected offers, we found our Shiki Hill in Napa. Seeing our first sunset over the back-end of our property and how the surrounding hills turn many shades of orange, pink, and purple depending on the light, we knew we had found our home.

The takeaway for us is that taking on additional mortgages was scary and daunting and we had to live frugally for a while, but we did the math and were confident that our income would support us for the foreseeable future. Investing in good-debt now will pay huge dividends in the future. So instead of buying more 'stuff' (cars, boats, gadgets, etc.) that will immediately depreciate, we would rather use our hard earned money smartly in ways that will grow and provide us with experiences and memories that we will keep for life.

Future journal entries will describe the incredible adventure of designing, building, and living in Shiki Hill.

Slow and Mindful Living

Our First Major Remodel