Brand New Investor looking to learn learn learn!

[Lisa DeAquino]

Aloha!

My name is Lisa and I just want to introduce myself here.

I apologize for sad sappy story but I want to explain how I got here.

I recently lost my mother to a prion brain disease that took her life in 2 weeks. She just retired last December. She would talk about retirement all the time for the past 10 years and She finally got there. 5 months later she had passed. Since then, I have been motivated & determined to not go this route, to retire early and be able to travel and set up my kids to be set and stable on their home island. I’ve learned that Real Estate Investing can get me there! And I’ve been obsessing about it for months now. I came across Bigger Pockets, I’m on my second book from their bookstore now, it’s all I think about.

I currently own a townhome on the island of Maui that we purchased early in 2019 for 460K under a “workforce housing” contract. Our equity is already over 2x worth that amount, however, bc we are “workforce” I can’t tap into that potential for another 6 years (this has to be our primary home for 10 years, we have 6 more to go). So I feel a bit stuck in a way. I know there’s other creative investing strategies out there other than using equity but my plan is to pay off our car loan in the next year or 2, save as much as I can, and learn as much as I can during this time period. 

Here’s another kicker, I’m 32 weeks pregnant! But I’ve never felt so motivated about my future self than I do now.

If anyone can relate to this story and the “workforce” housing situation, I would love to hear how you got out of this “stuck” feeling. Any tips and advice?

If you’ve read this much thank you and I look forward to learning with you all! 

-Mahalo nui

~ Lisa

[Anthony McEvoy]

Aloha @Lisa DeAquino - Welcome to the BiggerPockets community!  Sorry to hear about your mother and I completely understand your motivation.  While I still have both of my parents, I can definitely see minor physical limitations starting to set in and my dad is not retired yet (6 more months... so he says :P)!  So... I hear you and I am also motivated.

I am an investor from Illinois and looking to expand my investing to Hawaii so I watch the Hawaii related forum postings.  This "workforce housing" contract has come up a few times in the forums here.  Perhaps search the forums [if you haven't already] and see if you can connect with others who have been able to tap into their wealth.  I was reading a post on here a few days ago and I suggested to see if they can get a line of credit against the available equity.  If I understand correctly... is the amount you have paid down only while under the contract.

As you mentioned, pay down any loan you can with the extra money you have.  This will help your debt to income ratio when applying for loans.

Finally, you can always jump into real estate without your capital, too.  It might mean raising capital, work with someone already in real estate, and/or creative/seller financing, etc.  If you can jump in now at some capacity, after 6 more years, you'll have experience as well as the potential equity of your townhome!  In the meantime, 

Keep me posted if you find a solution using your townhome before the 10 year milestone!