Tired of Living At My Mom's House!

[Kris Mo]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself! I have been a sponge lately and have been soaking up everything I can about real estate investing through podcasts, books, forums, YouTube, etc. and I am pretty excited for the future!!

A little background of me. I'm a 26 year old engineer living in Kansas City and decided to live at my mom's house rent free to pay off personal debt. Through this decision and Dave Ramsey's book, I've matured financially and developed a strict budget for myself. I am proud to say that in October 2018, I will be debt free except for my student loans of about 60K.

Although I love my mom, I can't stand living at her house as I need my own space and sense of independence. Amazed at how much I am saving by living rent free, I looked into ways to live rent free besides my mom's and discovered house hacking!

My plan is:

Now - October 2018: Learn and network in all areas of REI while paying off personal debt.

October 2018 - December 2018: Save $5K for an emergency fund.

January 2019 - May 2019: Save $10K for a down payment.

Once I have $10K as a down payment, I was going to use the FHA loan (I currently have a credit score of 770+) and see how much I can qualify for and look into a duplex, triplex, or fourplex (preferably a fourplex) and begin to aggressively pay off my student loans. Once most of my loans are paid down, invest in another property and repeat!

I am really excited for the future and all I can think about is for it to be 2019 already! If anyone has any specific advice based on my background or is in the Kansas City area looking to connect, feel free to contact me!

[Jim K.]

When I was your age I was 100% financially supporting my mother. If I hadn't, she would have had to beg on the streets of a foreign country for food and medicine for her chronic conditions, or get an illegal job. I myself hadn't worked a legal job for three years, I just couldn't make enough to support a household that way. So I worked in the black market in my field in that country, ducked both the universal military draft and the taxman, and did what I had to do to take care of my family. I broke up with my girlfriend, put my head down, and worked as much as I could under Third World conditions for little more than Third World pay. Sadly, my mother died just one year after we got back to the States, but at least I got her out of there.

So I feel I can tell you with confidence that you don't NEED "your own space" and "sense of independence." Those are phantom needs. They're things you want, badly, and you're not naming them as such. There are plenty of people in the USA living four to a bedroom just happy to be here and away from where they came from. I'm no better or more human or more worthy by birth or station than they are, and neither are you.

Dave Ramsey talks about getting "gazelle intense." Complaining about living rent free with your mother...come on, you're a grown man and on living on your mother's charity. You know exactly what he'd say about your lack of gratitude for the "economic inpatient support" you're getting. I sincerely doubt you don't have stories of real privation in your own family, people who suffered to make sure you had enough to feel entitled to these phantom needs you've mentioned here. Get intense, Kris. The cheetah is after you and it hasn't eaten in days.

By all means, start learning about REI. By all means, save the $5K. By all means, put the down payment down on a duplex. For the love of sweet Jesus, Kris, never post your credit score in a public forum next to your full name. If you start investing in real estate and take on debt, treat it like a business you're starting and treat it as business debt. Look for something you can be sure you'll be able to pay back within the confines of your emergency fund for three months if Murphy strikes. Don't trust your lender to tell you how much you can afford -- do you remember the line in Ramsey's book about how it's like trusting a fox to tell you how many chickens you have in the henhouse?

So I would get the duplex AND keep living very gratefully with my mother and accepting her sacrifices for me, and put every cent my business produces towards paying down the student debt to keep my Debt Snowball going. Still feeling the lack of your independence and space? LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE WILL SO LATER YOU CAN LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE CAN. Listen to Ramsey.

That's my two cents. Good luck to you whatever you choose to do.