Starting Out
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated over 12 years ago,
Looking for outsiders perspective on current situation
I bought a small residential house at a great price 3 years ago with the intent to fix it up a bit and resell it for my first investment. I did take advantage of the first year homebuyer program and after 3 years as my primary residence, I don't have to pay the first time homebuyer refund back. I'm currently still working the bathroom, then the kitchen, then landscape and update doors and trim around the house. I owe about $66,000 on the mortgage, and I have a heloc of $22,000 against it to fix it up which I plan on using all of. Houses in the area are selling for around $125,000 - $150,000. I imagine mine would sell for the $140,000 mark or so, and it sits on a big corner lot. It's hard for me to find the time with my current job because I work so many hours as a car salesman. I have a family friend who is helping me with the work since I can't be home to do the work hardly ever. I'm trying to do a lot of the work by myself to save money so the work has been kind of dragging on and I have also rung up about $5,000 of expenses on my heloc (dumb on my part I know) which I am working on selling my boat and paying it down.
The real problem is with my current job. Car sales was fun for the first couple of years. I got into sales so I could learn to sell which I figured would help me be a business owner one day. I was planning on being out of this business already when I finished my house and became an avid investor. Anywho, I have recently been really down on my job. I'm doing okay financially but my heart isn't in it auto sales, it's in real estate. I've never really been a car guy anyway, and it's making me pretty unhappy to be here. I don't know how much longer I can stand it here before I just decide to walk out. I've been looking into other jobs but I also do window tinting on the side. I've dwelled on the idea of just going self-employed in a small window tinting business but am worried that would make it difficult when it comes time to sell my house and re-invest in some bigger property especially since I won't have at least 2 years of tax documents for the business. I feel like I need more free time to concentrate on the house and the car business just doesn't give that to me. Not to mention the stress the business puts on a person.
The other option would be to finish a lot of the house and rent it out for about $400-$500 cashflow every month and concentrate on building a window tint business and possibly work at wholesaling real estate as well for 2 years until I can show 2 years tax documents when it will then be easier to purchase more properties.
I'm just putting this out there to see if an outsider looking in can see a clearer picture than what I can. Any input is much appreciated. Thank you very much!