Looking for advice or opinions ....

[William J. Morgan]

I got a question and looking for advice for my current financial situation. I have going through a pre-qualification for a number of months. My debt to income ratio is a bit to high, which I knew going into it. I was told my current vehicle, 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 payment was too high and is affecting my debt to income ratio. I was told try to sell it or come up with money to pay more down on loan to get better refinancing and get a better payment. Iam in the process of getting 130k for a pre-qualification, iam looking to buy a duplex for my first rental property which will be a buy and hold. Long story short , I got around $12,000 in a rollover IRA that I could pull from to make this work. Iam seriously thinking of doing this to get ahead of this vehicle loan and get the payment down and changed. I would obviously have to start over with my new employer who matches your 401k

Contributions. I know I can’t count on just 401k and social security as I keep getting older, iam 42 years old now. Iam counting on real estate, multi family as my buy and hold strategy to retire on and count on as well. Is this a good thing to do with my current situation to make it all work ? Any advice or opinions?!

[Charles Seaman]

@William J. Morgan Real estate is always a great investment vehicle and has been throughout all of history.  There's NEVER a bad time to buy real estate, but it is a good time to be smart and make sure that you don't overpay.  As the previous cycle ends and we start heading into a buyer's market, many sellers and brokers will believe that the prices people paid a month ago will still be relevant.  They won't be, so don't make the mistake of paying those prices.  It'll likely take sellers and brokers a few months to accept that reality, so be patient and wait it out rather than rushing in to buy a bad deal.