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Updated about 7 years ago,
Engaged, in alot of DEBT and still investing. Whats my next move?
Hello BiggerPockets ! I am writing this post with the out-most trust in this community and want to get different points of views on my financial situation. I love this platform and have been following it since 2015 as i have came down the real estate investing world.
In 2014, when i was only 22, i bought my first property at a tax sale auction. 2 acres and a mobile home. about 8 months later in the summer of 2015, i flipped it and made 10k profit. I instantly fell in love with real estate. I made a big mistake at this time of my life though, i got into buying and selling cars. I got my license for salvage cars, and started flipping cars. All went well for the first couple cars but i bought one vehicle that i put alot of money into and ended up selling for a huge loss. About 3k plus of a loss. I stopped selling cars at that point.
that same summer in 2015, i also bought a vacant lot from the court house steps which i flipped. I ended up getting a 2008 Gmc crewcab out this deal.
I also bought a really run down brick home for only like 3k with a quitclaim deed. I made the mistake of holding on to it and fixing some things because i thought i was going to move into it eventually. I held on to this till this summer 2017 which i ended up selling to my Girlfriends dad for a small profit.
In the beginning of 2016, i bought 6 acres for like 10k. I got a really cheap deal because it was really messy and i think other investors overlooked it. I was initially gonna flip it, but i ended up developing it,getting utilities in there and putting in 2 mobile homes. I just got done developing in October/November of 2017. I just got my first two tenants and they will be moving in January 1st. I already have their first months rent and deposits. One mobile home will rent for 600/month and the other 550/month.
I used collateral ( 2004 bmw/2008 gmc) to get a personal loan this Past October for $25,000 to purchase a SFR on auction.com. I love the property. The tax district has it appraised at like 57k but i know with fixing, it can be worth a whole lot more. It is 1300 square feet home but it also has a detached apartment that is like 700-800square feet with meter and utilities of its own. I plan on living in the home and renting out the apartment or vice versa.I have already started work on the home. I completely cleaned out the mess it had and looks a whole lot better but it still needs a lot of work inside and money to make it appraise high. I dont have enough money to finish this rehab at this point :/
And, i have racked up a lot of debt i don't even know how !! I have 5 credit cards and i have a balance of about $11,000 i just added them up. one of them is a home depot card that i use to do some repairs on properties. But thats only 2k out of all of them.
Over the course of all this I went to college. I graduated with my bachelors in business in May of 2016. I owe $30,000 now in student loans. Maybe i shouldn't have even gone to school, most people at my job dont even have degrees.
I owe $25,000 on a personal loan which i mentioned i used to purchase the property i just got. It is just an interest only loan for the first year, which i pay only interest and after 1 year i have to revisit this if i plan to extend the term but i have to pay down atleast 5k in the principle to extend the term after one year.
Two weeks ago, i got engaged to my girlfriend of 4 years. It was time. I wanted the wedding to be in the summer of 2019. She says that is too long and possibly wants it September of 2018.
I am 25 years old. I do not have any kids. I have lived with my parents all my life up until I finished the mobile homes on the land which i ended up moving into but now have to move out since i rented them.
I kinda want to do the BRRRR strategy with the house i just bought and pay off my cards and pay for the wedding. But at the same time i feel like the BRRRR strategy is for growing my business and acquiring more homes not wasting the money on debt.
Now im feeling like SELL IT ALL, and F*** it. Get a big cash pile,pay my debt and start over acquiring real estate.
I live very frugal. I am very cheap. I like good stuff and looking good but i dont spend heavily. i TRY to watch every dollar that goes out but it is very hard with so many payments. I bought the BMW when i was 19 before i started with housing. I know it was a mistake that thing has caused me nothing but expenses. But well now i was able to use it as collateral for my last home purchase.
I have worked all my life since i was a freshman in highschool. Literally i have had about 15 jobs in the course of 10-11 years. I have busted my butt for what i have but i yet to see a big savings account under my name. i currently probably have about 2k to my name. I think my debt is over 63k right now. I currently love my job and make fairly decent money. I do commercial sales for our local cable company. While i was going to school i was actually installing cable for them at peoples homes, but as soon as i graduated i went straight into the actual company and into business sales. I work monday through friday 8to5 so its not bad. I made this year about 55k gross and 40k take home. Weekends i work at my land or house.
What have i done wrong? why am i not seeing my savings. what is the advice you all would give me to move forward? Should i sell the properties, should i keep and see how the rent will turn out? Possible BRRRR strategies? what would you do in my situation? I know there are alot of successful people on here and i aspire to be one. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long post.
Maugno.