All Forum Posts by: Adam Britt

Looks like I need to find a turnkey or something selling in Boston then! 

Whew, I sure have! I would kill for the opportunity to house hack! I would love a quadplex, but would settle for a duplex any day of the week. Thing is, I live in the Hoover/Birmingham area. In all my searches, I've only seen a single multifamily home anywhere NEAR an area that I would actually live. And that one was put on the market and bought in less than 24 hours at a price I couldn't even touch, and came fully rented with leases intact (defeating the house hacking option to begin with). Most MFH I find in Alabama are either: 1. Quite a few hours away from work. or 2. In an area I don't think I could force my wife to live, even if I wanted to. (Those are typically pretty rough properties anyway). 

If anyone has any information, I would be incredibly interested in getting my hands on (and myself in) a MFH in this area. PMs always welcome by the way, if anyone reads this and does happen to know of such a place! 

@Aaron Bonne

Wow. I guess my goals are pretty dang low by these standards. I’m seeing 10-50k per month in here. I hardly make 50k per year on my full time job ...

If I could generate enough passive income that my enormous and completely useless student loan payments were covered ... I would quit my job literally right now. That’s 1,000$ a month.

I would keep working my second job (which is part time right now) and that could cover my living expenses. I don’t even care if I get to eat every day ... getting out of the 8-5 drag by covering debt is my primary goal.

I’m currently attempting to save a down payment to do that. But it has been a long process...

Good morning, for anyone still keeping an eye out, or for new readers, I’ve got a brief update. 

With some hard work and a great deal of initial frustration, we have managed to refinance all of my wife’s private loans in her own name within the 5-7% interest range (as opposed to the previous 12-15%). 

We have also paid off one of her smaller private loans (about 3000 at 15%). We continue to put chunks of money on them in the thousands every few months. 

She has not yet gotten a full time job. What she is making now following her dreams is nearing what she would make getting another job as some office assistant. 

Now all I have to do is figure out how to curb her desire for going on vacations that we can’t afford every month!😜

Her credit is also now in the high 700s and these evil companies are sending her cards in her own name, which I can’t watch. Not cool guys...not cool. She still doesn’t have the restraint needed to handle that responsibility  

We aren’t out of the woods but we have made some substantial progress. Overall we have now saved  at least 16,000 over the life of the loan with these new refinance terms, not counting what we may save for earlier payoff since we can put more money towards principal. 

And with less than 7% interest on most loan amounts, it is starting to make more and more sense to invest in something that will have a higher return. Real estate paying more than 15% return may have been hard to do at my experience level.  But an average 7% ... that is doable.  

Now to save up enough for a down payment...

 Hey Jerry, thanks for the clarification! That actually does make sense as a potential strategy. I can see the cost / benefit of dropping a thousand or two a year to save many thousands long term! 

I’ll have to consider this option. 

 This is a great program. Unfortunately, my wife has not worked for a Public Service workplace. Fun fact: going after that forgiveness program means you don’t pay anything upon forgiveness. After 25 years, there is a more general loan forgiveness program that anyone can use if you are on income based repayment. Which we are. However, you pay income tax on the forgiven amount. I’ve run the numbers ... we will pay twice as much as the loan balance in interest and taxable income if we do that rout vs just paying it off in 20 years. 

Crazy huh? Now if she could find a job with a public service program and work there 10 years, we can be out of debt by 45 ... still hurts my heart to not get the ball running sooner being better. 

 Teaching English online? I didn’t consider that option. Not exactly a professor by trade but I’ve trained hundreds of students in my medical field ... hmmmm

 Bryan! You may not recognize me, but I actually spoke to you a few years back. Absolutely will-do. 

 An astute observation my friend. I like your style, your direct approach, and your sense of humor. 

My wife currently works part time. After being “downsized” twice from full time work. She is now working for about 400$ a month (for that same company ironically) while also chasing her dream of owning her own business. A business that has not born the fruit of financial profitability of yet. 

And so, you have uncovered an underlying psychosocial issue that further muddies the water. She could get a job elsewhere making 30-35k a year, like she did before. This would theoretically allow us to pay off debt easier. Or she could continue to pursue her long-time dream of building her creative floral business from the ground up... and we basically rely on my multiple job efforts for all consistent income and debt payment. 

I am definitely getting the raw end of the deal, but it comes down to this: Crush her dreams so we can pay off debt and I can fulfill my dreams of financial freedom? Or struggle alone to find creative ways to reach my dreams and goals while she also pursues hers ... that is the question. 

(To more directly answer a secondary question- she ended up with 75k in student loans for a useless bachelors degree that does not add any value at all to her work opportunities. Long story and not really important, because it is a good 20 years too late to do anything there. Thank the “Every student should go to college no matter the plan” mentality of parents of the previous generation.)

 See, that’s exactly how I feel. If I keep waiting till I can afford a 500k A class property, I won’t be getting started. Ever. Yet I still realize the substantial risk that can come along with lower class. 40k for this house definitely may not be worth it in the end. Good way to look at it