Wife/husband differing views on investing

[Daniel Byrd]

I’m sure this discussion has been around for a while, but I need help. I want to start investing in real estate and my wife wants a new home. Sounds easy enough. I could just buy a new home and rent out my old home. The problem is, if I buy what my wife wants (3/2, no renovations, front and back porch, granite everything... you know the works) I can’t see a way not to loose money. My current home would possibly bring in a whopping $50 after mortgage, insurance, tax, cap ex, repair, management, ect. Making paper!!!....NOT! The houses in my area of Dothan, Alabama are pretty fair priced but rent values are low. If anyone has ran into this issue and has any advice I would be extremely grateful!

[Hudson Hanlon]

@Daniel Byrd This is Hudson's wife, Lindsey. I saw your post and am far from an expert on marriage or investing, but I wanted to offer our experience. Maybe it will be helpful.

My husband came home in March of this year saying that we needed to sell our house and move into a 4plex. We just had our first son, own our 1800sq ft home in a good neighborhood. I thought he was kidding. And when I realized he wasn't, we got in lots of arguments. Turns out, he was listening to the BP podcast on his commute to work and getting really excited about real estate investing and house hacking. Meanwhile, I'm at home with our newborn, searching for dream houses on Zillow. I ignored his idea of house hacking and told him we needed to go look at this $500k house. He made a deal with me that he would agree to walk through the house if I would read Rich Dad, Poor Dad first. I read the book in 2 days (mainly to try to prove him wrong and go see our dream house). When I finished, I knew he was onto something. I started listening to the BP podcast and we have attended a few webinars through the website. We are currently searching for our 2nd deal and actually having a lot of fun doing it.

My advice to you is this - 1.) remember that you are a team. Sit down and write our your goals separately and then as a couple. We have to remind each other so often what we are working towards (or in my experience waiting for). I needed to see what my husband was so excited about and I also needed him to know what my goals/dreams were. This took a lot of the emotion and arguing out of our discussions. 2.) let your wife in on what you are so passionate about. I'm sure you want the nice home one day, too! She's not wrong, she just might be like me and not see the bigger picture yet. What is she willing to do to have that bigger house? How long is she willing to wait? 3.) and this is my husband's advice - take your time. Educate yourself and help your wife get excited about saving and the long term. No business or money is worth a divorce.