Getting Personal Finances in order before Investing

[Chandra Towns]

Hello,

I have been reading " The Book on Rental Property Investing: How to Create Wealth with Intelligent Buy & Hold Real Estate Investing". As I'm reading I'm writing my questions down. One question I have is in regards to personal finances. We have a some items we need to take care of now so it doesn 't hinder us or becomes an obstacle in the future.

What are some must -do-first in regards to preparing yourself financially for real estate investing? How long did you take you to prepare yourself (and your family) personally before you started investing?

Thanks,

Chandra

[Nathan Grabau]

I would talk to a lender about credit repair and getting different metrics that are specific to you in good order. For example, a lot of people pay off low payment student loan debt because the balance seems high, but because you are paying it over a long term the payment is low, before they pay down debt from a car, which could have a lower interest rate, but since it is for a shorter term, has a much larger impact on your debt to income ratio. 

I would also be mindful of making extra payments on debt that that helps vs debt that it does help. Paying extra on a mortgage is not going to decrease you future payments, while paying down a credit card could reduce your monthly minimum payments.