I'm torn and I need all your help please!

[Ryan L.]

Hello everyone,

First thank you for reading. I really need your help and opinions. I'm 25, moved to Denver in February in hopes of selling my condo (which is mortgage free) back east and taking that money to start my own investing business. I came here for the excitement of a new city, cheaper real estate and taxes and just a fresh start to life. Unfortunately, my condo couldn't sell so recently I decided to rent it out at $1800/month. I thought okay..that sucks but maybe after a while I can go to the bank and get a HELOC. I then decided that i needed a job on the books (i've been bartending for the last 4 years) so with my stupid $100,000 degrees in business management and real estate, i'd go and find a job right? Wrong. Can't get ANYTHING. Not even Whole Foods or a bank teller position. I'm screwed.

Basically, i'm depressed and frustrated because nothing has worked out. I can't start my business and be like all you guys who I, in all honesty without sounding lame, really look up to. I want nothing more than to be my own boss and get started.

My question is this...do I move back to Jersey and try to dump the condo at a price way below what its worth just to get the cash to get started? I figure the "time value of money" method would say yes. Or do I go ahead and rent the place, move back and try to get a job, then try to get a HELOC down the road? Please help.

P.S. for those who have seen my posts before, I'm sorry if all I do is ask questions but it has been a VERY bumpy road for me so far - unfortunately my experience in real estate has not been as smooth as some of yours. With that said, i'm sorry but I can really use some help from you vets out there. Thanks.

[Ryan Pyle]

Ryan, I have no doubt that everyone on this board has had bumps in their road to success. I know I have. A couple of years ago when the "easy financing" era came to an abrupt end, I announced to my family that I was going to hang up my real estate shoes and get a real job. I was very depressed. In the end I bucked up and realized that there are millions of ways to make money in real estate and I just had to find another way. So I put myself out there and started calling everyone I knew in the business. Through that, I met a guy who showed me how to flip. I was buy, fix, and refiying at the time.Things have worked out great since.

With regards to your condo, an asset is worth whatever the market will pay for it. You need to find out at what price that condo will sell for quickly. Then you need to accept that, and decide your next course of action. Will it be better to continue renting the condo, or can you take the proceeds from the sale and put them to better use. I am selling 3 rentals right now that I have about $100k into collectively. I am selling them for $50k because that's what they are currently worth and I can put that $50k to work better elsewhere. It's called sunk cost, meaning you should never consider what you paid for an aseet, only what that asset is worth to you now.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Now go to the Wynkoop and have a beer for me! I used to live in Denver and miss it alot.