4 tips to get your partner on board with real estate

                            4 tips to get your partner on board with real estate

Getting your partner on board to embark upon a journey that involves you potentially buying ugly smelling houses or waking up at 3am because one of your tenants thought it was a good idea to light the couch on fire might be a tough sell. No worries because you aren’t the only one dealing with problems similar to this. I am currently closing on my first house hack and when my girlfriend and I began thinking about purchasing a property, she wasn’t really interested in the idea of sharing her home with a tenant. Out of all the things I did to try to get her on board with house hacking, four things really helped her grasp the idea and the potential real estate investing has to offer.

                                                      1.Early retirement

The first thing that made my partner really consider real estate investing as an option was the idea of potentially retiring early. At first she was a little nervous about investing but once I gave her the worst case scenario, she was more willing to give it a shot. I told her our worst case scenario is that we would purchase a house hacking property would be not being able to find a tenant right away. In response to this concern, we simply put away the first three months of expenses aside to give us some wiggle room.

Another concern she had was if the market were to drop or have a correction. My answer to that was to make sure we purchase a property that will cash flow after we move out. That way if the market drops, we won’t be worried about it because while we wait for the market to pick up again, we would still be cash flowing. This is something major to talk about with your partner if cash flow is the game you are playing because many people don’t know much about the market but they do know about what happened in 2008 when the housing market collapsed. Once I let her in on my philosophy, she realized that even though investing is always a risk, house hacking might be a risk worth taking.

                       2.Money being saved that can be spent on fun things!

Once I began to show my partner the amount of money we were going to save by house hacking, she realized that we were going to be in a position where we would be able to spend money on things we enjoy while still maintaining a frugal responsible lifestyle.

An example of being frugal while still being able to have fun and spend money on things we want is as follows. We are originally from New York City. The property we are in the process of house hacking is in New Jersey. That move alone bought our cost of living down. We made sure to stay within a mile from a train that takes us to the city within an hour to still be able to meet with our friends and family and have the option to not drive. We got to save money on our living expenses which now gives us the choice to save, invest or spend that money how we please.

Another example of being frugal while still being able to have fun is our housing. The house hack unit we would be staying in is a very nice three bedroom, one bathroom. An apartment of that quality would have probably cost us about 2800 in the city. Assuming we have a tenant, we would be paying 1800 and that would cover every single expense and future expense of the house because we would also be putting money away every month for vacancy, repairs, and CapEx. That’s a 12K yearly saving and instead of paying rent, I am paying down my mortgage. That alone gives us the wiggle room to once again invest, save or spend the money on whatever we (and when I say we, I mean she) want.

                                                       3.Involve them!

One of the things that I read in blogs and forums that can easily be remedied is one person complaining about how they are not supported by their partner in what they are trying to do. Guys, imagine you go to your significant other and tell them “Hey honey, I am thinking about leaving my job (Secure Job) to become a full time real estate investor”. Chances are they are not going to be welcoming to this idea. That is why I think it is best to share your learning journey with them as much as you can. That way when you decide to invest, they will have a better grip on what your future goals are.

My partner and I have recently separated our responsibilities when it comes to dealing with our future tenants. This is a great way for you and your partner to stay in each other lives and have the opportunity to share another part of your lives together. Some people might think that couples working together will never work. My response would be for you to check out Jim Halpert and Pam Halpert from The Office. Sure they are just characters in a show but they make working together with your partner look like so much fun!

                                 4.Let them enjoy the fun parts of Real Estate

I am a very simple man. I don’t need much to have fun. That is why I try to do everything I can to try to make my partner happy. One thing my partner enjoys is buying things. With that being said, the first thing I told her when our offer got approved was that she can furnish the house however she likes (as long as it stays within a budget that is). That is one way to get your partner excited about moving.

Another fun tip you can do is if you have the cash for the furniture you are going to purchase, you can credit card hack and because you already have the money for the furniture. You can just take out a credit card and get those bonus points since you have the cash anyway. My partner and I plan to do this for this property. So not only is she going to be able to furnish her new property to her liking, but in the process we will gain enough points to at least pay half our next vacation. If that doesn’t get someone excited about real estate, then I don’t know what would.

                                                          Conclusion

There are many more tips people use to get their partner on board with the idea of Real Estate. I think the number one thing you should do when considering the move to real estate is to share your learning journey with your partner. That way, when you do decide to make the jump, he/she won’t be the dead weight holding you back. Instead your partner will be the Jim to your Pam, The Dwight to your Angela (The office Characters). If you need to ease your partner into real estate, Rich Dad Poor Dad is highly recommended.