When to start, now or later?

[John Crandell]

Everybody has a unique situation, my wife and I are no exception.

Our plan was to put our house on the market, sell it, and with the equity buy another house in another state, paid in full. It is a retirement plan, at least part of it, and a light has been shed showing, (see below) that this is not enough to retire on, and still have the same standard of living that we enjoy now, albeit a modest one.

To prepare for the sale of the house, it was going to take a long time to accomplish working full time. So we pulled together enough work for three months to go out on my own, leaving the company, that I worked for 22 years in residential construction. This tactic would allow more time to work on the house, to get it in better shape for sale, and still have income for the bills. Thankfully it did work out that way, and it has been over 5 months (still working!!!). Now the house is still on the market, with a potential buyer, though no paper has been issued formally to say it is. We are asking our broker, who asks the other broker, who in turn asks the buyer, the status of the purchase, being assured that the deal will go through. The buyer experienced the death of a dear friend, which has the sale put into a lesser priority, it has been a while though...

While working on the house, the ever recurring question of fixing and selling homes was brought up again, this has always been a desire of mine to get into, but never knew where to start. With the situation being that it is, and the need for a stable retirement (see above), the idea of buying and selling fit better than ever before.

Anybody who knows the way banks work, know that I will not get a loan even though I have over $400,000.00 in equity in our home. I have tried for other purposes. No job, no income, at least in the banks eyes. I don't see paying thousands of dollars to get a MHIC license, just to leave the area. I can get a business name with LLC behind it, no prob. I need to see if the banks will accept that. This JUST occurred to me just now... I still would not be in business for 2 years, so.... maybe not... There are other lenders out there.

So what I would love to do is this, bottom line at least do 1 deal, get my feet wet, another if possible, before moving out to Washington State, my wife has family out there, good people, they even like me....:) I know the business of house repair, been in the trade for 42 years, what I don't know is the paper part of it, the need for a team would fill this I know.

Now for the question, given the circumstances, should I pursue the purchase of a house to resell, of course with the help of others, or get settled into the new area and go for it with gusto when we are relocated?

My apologies for the long winded post, I felt I had to get all the info out there so a reliable answer could be given. The answers may wind up coming back all over the place, but one may ring true for my wife and I.