All Forum Posts by: Andrea Castor

Thanks so much for sharing this. I am told at least once a week that our crazy life needs to be on tv, but it looks pretty much like yours. That's a shame that they want to script it so much when real life is really just as funny!

I'm new here but excited to take a look at your blog!

I also would put CC debt and student loan debt into two separate categories. If you were really sticking to a zero based budget and saving $500-$1000/mo, the cc should not be an issue. Knock that out and don't look back.

As for the car part, I really think that's a common mistake, that you HAVE to have a new car for it to be reliable. I also have a commute so that my kids can live in a safe suburb with the best schools, but for the past 10 yrs I've driven a paid for in cash Honda Accord. It now has almost 200k miles on it, runs like a charm, and has cost me very little in the way of repairs beyond basic maintenance.

Most first time home buyer options I *believe* require you to actually occupy the property.

Also, start small, you can always add things later. My husband and I have lived/held/flipped 3 properties over the last 8 yrs without any of the business materials. Just word of mouth. Even as we start out doing this more as a career, we don't even plan on getting business cards.

And just something else I'm going to throw out there, does your boyfriend stand behind you? I'd make sure he's fully committed to standing behind you on it and support you.

One last thing, if you go the flipping route, do you have contractors in mind? I won't say that I've never been treated differently even in a Lowes picking out tile because I was female. Its stupid and sucks, but its a reality.

I'm not saying what we did was right, but we have been in this same position. We had a potential lead on renters but they were very eager to put a deposit on something as soon to be newlyweds. When they saw our condo, we were just putting up the drywall. I had vanities, tile, cabinet/counter top samples, etc in the garage. I showed them what it would look like but obviously they needed to use some imagination too. Their timeline worked out because it was a month after we planned to be finished with the remodel. Like others have touched on though, we were working on it up until move in day but just little touches here and there, washer/dryer delivery, etc. In our situation, it worked out, but I could see where it would not more often.

With our next flip, we're looking at getting it on the market when we are about 85-90% complete. We may learn a lesson on this but we'll see.

Just came across this post now, but just a thought to throw out there. My husband actually works part time for UPS for our health insurance. The hourly rate isn't great and its hard work BUT, for our family it works. I think they have pushed back providing health insurance for you after 6 mo and your family after a year or 18 mo, BUT there is no cost for it, and our out of pocket MAX for the year is $2k. On top of that, my husband invests most of his paycheck into 20% discounted UPS stock, life insurance is extremely cheap ($400k is the max but ~$40/mo), and he'll get a pretty nice pension after 30 yrs (but we don't bank on this considering it is a pension). Just food for thought.

When first seeing this post and seeing Trotwood boarding Drexel I would have said no way. While I still think the price is fairly high (just by looking at Montgomery County Property records and seeing most selling under $10k). I also would account for a little higher vacancy and collection loss. If they are long term tenants and just want to stay put you may be ok, but I would think finding tenants without criminal backgrounds and even decent credit that pay on time to be difficult in this area. I'm also a little shocked that 800 sq ft for each side, 2 bed/1ba pulls in $650/mo.

I have a friend who purchased a condo at the height of the market. Purchased for $70k and 6 yrs later has paid mortgage down to $63k. She has since gotten married and moved into her husband's house. She has tried to sell 4 times, with 4 realtors in the past 6 yrs or so. Hasn't sold so she continued to rent it out. It's in good shape with no major repairs, is clean, but needs updated. Top market comps would be $80k, but she has no money to bring to closing and no money for updates. She's been renting it in its current condition at a lower $700/mo just to rent it out quick and break even on her mortgage each month, BUT she continues to have renters move out before their year lease is up. If the condo was remodeled she would have no issue getting $900-$1000/mo BUT she has no money to remodel. She wants out and done. What are her options? Come January she will have no renters, no way to cover her mortgage payment, and will have a hard time selling it at $63k + realtor fees to break even.

Great job @Kyle Grimm! I've always lived by the list, but I'm trying to get my husband into the goal setting. He loves to sit down on a yearly basis and look at our networth and its growth over the year so I think setting goals for his business might be great for him too!

Although we've live-n-flipped and bought/held/sold three properties over the past 8 yrs, we now feel financially secure enough to really get a real estate business going. We've decided for now our main focus will be on flips, as 4 kids 8 and under keeps us busy and not a ton of time to deal with rentals. My husband can do all the work himself but it puts us on a bit of a time schedule. We'd like to have a house closed on, rehabbed, and on the market by Apr 1st when my husband's landscape business gets busy again. We'll then look for another one to start on around the Aug 1st time frame.

So far, we've found nothing we're in love with (aka, profit margins not large enough, property may not sell quick because busy street/one bathroom family house/possible risks with foundation, etc) BUT we did find a short sale. Mortgage is showing it was refi'd at $154k in Jan 2015. It was on the market maybe a month at $120k. Price dropped yesterday to $100k and became a short sale. It really needs VERY little work. Biggest concerns are huge deck and above ground pool all need ripped out and house reeks of pets. Rest just needs cleaned up, even has upgraded light switches, lighting, fans, siding, etc. BUT, its a short sale. Hard to believe that a $95k cash offer would be something the bank would even entertain. There is also the risk that the power has been shut off and if the temps drop below 30s, the pipes could freeze. Comps are looking around $140k BUT it has a new extra 2.5 garage and yard is 2x (.5 acre) all the other comps so hoping to list around $145,900.

BUT, should we make the offer and keep looking for something in the shorter term. Worse case scenario we get two flips almost at the same time? (And we only have the $95k cash so if we ended up using that on another property we'd have to find a short term loan from family) Should we not even make an offer? Thoughts?

Although Im still a big fan of the Dave Ramsey fan (like Brianna mentioned), my vote is for doing both. Stop wasting your money on rent and find a multifamily unit. $10k in student loans should be knocked out easily in a year or less if you are budgeting and living even fairly frugal. Don't keep student loans around like a pet, especially when they are that small. Knock it out and move on.

What type of neighborhood is this? $67k even for a totally rehab'd house seems unheard of and I'm in a very low cost of living area. You did a great job buying low and minimizing your cost. The curb appeal is amazing.