All Forum Posts by: Christopher Hasting

@Benjamin Aaker @Garrett D.
Thank you both. I took some time last night to reflect and figure out what I'm looking for and what I kept coming back to was: I want to use my property to supplement my monthly income and allow me to seize opportunities to purchase additional properties and repeat. I want to eventually earn enough in rental income that it matches or surpasses my salary, making it easier to cover my expenses, max out my TSP, and save as much as possible while living fairly comfortably.

@Garrett D. 

Thank you both for your reply. I want to start out by saying, if it isn’t already completely obvious: I am an absolute novice when it comes to this. I’m going to lay out what I believe my options are that I’ve been thinking through.

I have thought about selling my house and buying closer to where I work. My worry with that is with my house being paid off already, in the area it’s in (40 mins north of Nashville) that’s growing and growing, that selling that house to buy in West TN would be the wrong move because it seems as though the market in Middle TN is growing at faster rate than West TN. I’m not 100% opposed to the idea though.

Renting my house can bring anywhere from $1800-2400/month. I’ve got some numbers for taking out a home equity loan through Rocket Mortgage and $225k loan is $1310/month. The reason for the higher amount is to cover the cost of the manufactured home ($152k), cover the balance on my truck ($45k), and leave some money left over to remodel my house before I rent it out. I don’t know that it’s smart to take out that much and use it to pay my truck off. A part of me feels like I need to take out less, say $180k, have a lower monthly payment, and then aggressively start to pay my truck off with my salary.

Another option that’s went through my head is going through 21st Mortgage for a manufactured home loan. The interest rates are ~8.5% though and the monthly payments come close to what it would be for me to do a home equity loan.

Another option is to take out a loan, rent my house out, get a manufactured home on my land, rent it out as well while I continue living with my friend. I’m estimating about $1200-1400/month in rent on the manufactured home. Maybe less, but with both it would brings me roughly $3000-$3600/month.

Another option I had was take the loan out, purchase another property cash, rent it out, put a cheap single wide or double wide on my property and stay in it or rent it out as well.

There are more options I’ve ran through my head but those were the main ones. One of the main reasons I keep leaning towards a manufactured home is the cost of getting one vs building a home, it’s just so much cheaper. I know I’m all over the place here. I’m just trying to make sure I make the best decision possible.

I have considered this. I think I’m thinking too much with my emotions though and here’s why: I paid this home off with intentions of it being my forever home and being able to pass it down to my daughter in the future. I missed out on the insane market when buyers were paying exorbitant amounts in cash, sight unseen and the area my house is in has a lot of growth. There’s tons of houses and apartments being built all the time and I just feel like the value will continue going up if I’m patient enough (that could just be greed talking). I’m worried that if I sell now, I won’t get as much as I could by being patient while having to turn around and take most of that money to purchase something closer to work. My logic behind that is that Middle TN is growing fast and West TN isn’t growing as fast and I feel like I would be better off keeping the house in Middle TN as it will increase in value faster than anything I purchase in West TN. I hope that made sense, I have a hard time verbalizing my thoughts on the matter.

I’m not sure how to start this post so I’ll just get right to it. 

I’m 34 years old working active duty for the National Guard. I own a 2400 sqft, 4br/2ba house on 0.95 acres that’s paid off. I own another property that is also paid off - 6.2 acres of land that had an old single wide that was falling apart on it that I recently tore down. It has all of the utility hookups already so that saves me from having to spend much there. 

I currently live in my house on the weekends but I stay with a friend near where I work during the week because it’s 2.5 hours away and I don’t want to drive 5 hours a day.  The land is much closer to where I work and I plan to put a manufactured home on it.

I bought the land last year but I’ve been in this situation for the last 4 years. I know that I’ve left a lot of money on the table as I could have rented my house out long ago and made  quite a bit of money. I’m ready to get started now and I’m looking for advice on what to do. I have an idea on what I want to do but I’m not sure how to begin. I’m just looking for advice/direction. If any additional information is needed I’ll be more than happy to provide. Thank you.