All Forum Posts by: Jacob Prelle

We don't want to start careers in Real Estate. We want to be able to retire and travel; knowing that our investments will continue to provide returns every month. Buy and hold seems like a great opportunity to turn our 100k into a retirement account.

What do you suggest?

I probably should have mentioned before that I want to change jobs. I am possibly going to start a new field that would make our income more like 100k annually. So getting loans with those new figures could be more difficult. 

After a year of vague forum posts, let's get personal.

My wife and I have 100K. No debt. 

We rent a townhouse, at $1,700 a month in Orange County, California. Currently we make a combined $160k.

Our end goal is to have relatively passive income of ~$10k a month. (if possible)

We have thrown around the idea of buying a house in Cali (~400 to 450k), and (if possible) simultaneously a tri or quad in another state. Our target price for the income property is ~250k which would make our down payment about 65k.

If we go FHA on our home back in Cali, we could be looking at a down payment of around 15k. Taxes, closing costs on both properties might wipe out our 100k.

I'm tired of speculating and guessing in my own head. What do you all think? What steps should we take? Should we scrap the buy and hold ideology?

@Joe Villeneuve : 

That seems like a difficult strategy and one that I'm sure isn't available everywhere, anytime. I think I'll stick to the basics. Thanks for the idea though.

Well I'm 33 now and want to be retired in 7 years. So the goal is to have enough units bringing in cash flow to where I no longer need to work. I really just want to take that first step and I'm hoping it's the right one.

Thanks!

Wow. Nicole, that's what we want. I wish we were ready to buy in 2010. Prices were great. Now it feels like a terrible time to buy. 

My wife and I want financial independence. To retire and travel the world. We'll both always agree to do whatever makes that happen. Thanks, Brian.

Our "Plan A" was to house hack. We wanted to buy a duplex in Orange County, live in one and rent the other unit out. That would have been awesome. However, there are a very small amount of duplexes in so cal. It might not work out for us. But that is our priority. Thanks for the response.

Thank you for the post, but now I'm worried. Buying a home in (let's say) January 2018 feels like the top of the market. Living in SoCal is fine renting, but a 650K home is a big deal when you think of the potential for a market "correction". 

I'm terrified at the idea of losing my home value as soon as we start. Which will of course set us back years. A rental sometimes feels safer because it will ALWAYS rent out. Money is coming in from it. My home MIGHT not produce revenue (equity).

Nice. Thanks for the advice!