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Updated 4 months ago,
Next steps? End goal?
A little background to start out because I'm feeling a little scatterbrained with the directions to take next: I'm 23 and currently own 2 duplexes with gross income just shy of $4k per month, net after mortgages, taxes, utilities, repairs, etc. is about $2,125 give or take depending on the month. I purchased my childhood home from my father for about $100k less than market last June and the original plan was to hold for 2 years which takes me to June 2025, do minimal renovations, then sell and take the profit from the sale and purchase one or two more investment properties. The current thought is purchase a 4 unit in the spring as a primary home and live in it for a year while renting out my childhood home and purchasing another duplex in the fall to put me at 10 doors, then move back into my house at the end of the year lease and after a year in the 4 unit, whichever comes last. Mortgage on my current home (4 bed, 1.5 bath, on roughly an acre, in a quiet neighborhood) is $1445 and the idea would be to rent it out for $2000ish plus all utilities depending on the rental market this time next year but currently that's pretty close to where it would be.
Now for the questions:
1. Is it a bad idea to rent out my childhood home for the time being? If so, why?
2. Currently the heat/ac situation is electric baseboard heat and window ac units that my realtor is insistent should be taken out and I should have mini splits or a furnace added instead. The least expensive quote I've received is $7,200 for 2 mini splits. Does this actually make sense both from a selling standpoint down the line and a renting standpoint short term?
3. Knowing my end goal is to move to another state (Sperryville or Staunton, VA) and 3-4ish hours away to start a small hobby farm, does it make sense to pay off these properties rapidly in the next 5-6 years so that I have a total clean slate from a lending perspective in order to finance the land, house, and buildings, or does it not matter?
4. When we hit the point of moving out of state, does it make any sense to actually keep our current home vs selling and using the funds towards the farm?
5. Currently, I don't have any second mortgages or helocs because the idea of keeping track of more than one mortgage per property has been a tad daunting and decreasing my cash flow at the moment is something I'm battling mentally with. Between the duplexes, there's roughly $160k in equity and then our primary is about $110k. Do I take out a line of credit on our primary or one of the duplexes to expedite the 4 unit purchase or just leave them alone?
I'm not looking to scale tremendously, just looking to have enough passive income once the rental properties are paid off that my fiance and I can leave our jobs in the automotive business and find something less stressful and more fulfilling, live a little slower, and travel more. With 4 fully paid off properties and 10 doors producing $10kish per month in the next 5-6 years, I think that achieves what we're looking for. If anyone has a different opinion or insight on this that I'm missing please feel free to mention it!