All Forum Posts by: Jaleel Phillips

I've been here listening and reading things on BiggerPockets for a few years now.

In December 2018 I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy my first house. I bought the house with the intention of turning it into a duplex and living in half of it. I was successful in that.

I also refinanced it to get my mortgage payment lower. And now I only contribute about $200 towards the mortgage and I cover all of the utilities.

And from there I thought I was good. Took a step back to admire my work. I was pretty proud.

And then I realized that I screwed myself (can I say that on here?).

First, I bought a house that appraised at the value that I bought it. Zero Equity. Terrible.

Second, at the time I was refinancing my house, my car died completely so in order to afford the car I had to combine all of my credit card debt into a personal loan to raise my credit.

Now, I have a Mortgage, Personal Loan, Car Loan, and Student Loans. My debt to income ratio is about 43% (or 35% with my tenant). And, according to the bank I only have 7% equity (Zillow and Redfin show me at 15%) in my house, currently.

Basically, moving forward with investments using this house, is a bust.

So I gave up. Had an anxiety attack. No hope.

I started scrambling to start other side businesses to make enough money for another down payment and repair costs. My goal was to get an extra 30k. Fast.

I started side business after side business. Trying to make that extra buck. But, they all failed. Just reinforcing my draw towards failure. I was starting to really give up. But I always have my heart set on escaping this rat race.

So I kept working, every chance I got. And then boom. Another mental breakdown. (Actually, happened last night).

But last night, I also had the truth thrown at me by some loved ones. I work too hard. I have really high expectations of myself. And, I'm just generally too hard on myself and don't give myself credit for what I have accomplished.

So, I decided to take a step back and regroup.

I'm only paying $200 plus utilities for my housing. That's pretty phenomenal.

I have a great work ethic. Sometimes a little too hardcore.

I understand the ins and outside of basic real estate. Not many people my age do.

My current house is a dead end in terms of investing. But one day it will be my greatest asset.

I have decided to become more serious about real estate and learn how to take hold of my situation and make it work for me. I will be attending local groups, talking to people, learning how they invest and start gathering new ideas that I might be able to use. Sometimes you just have to force yourself to take a step back and see where you're at, what you have accomplished, and where you can go from here.

If anyone has any comments or advice, I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

@David Jackson -  This is a good time to go around to your different merchants, introduce yourself and start getting them to bid your materials.  At this point, I make my list of material and shoot it off to 5 different merchants and make them all bid against each other.  You'll find out who is the cheapest for specific items really quick this way

Okay! So we're back after our meeting with the sellers.

The meeting went well. The owner is also the real estate agent and she bought the home initially for her son two years ago. She was hoping that he would move in after he graduated from college but he got a job in North Carolina instead. The home was previously a foreclosure so she got it at a really good price ($440K) and has $429K remaining on the loan. The home is worth approx. $486K but they are asking for $520K. 

Since they have only been in the property for 2 years and are selling already, I sense that they are in a bit of a pickle and need to get out quickly although she did not want to say so. Initially, they kept asking if we didn't have a home to sell and that we could bring cash to the table and could close quickly. She said she had other people who were interested but she is only offering buying agents 2%. After some back and forth, she brought the price down to $496K but that was the lowest she could go. I got the sense that she needs $42K from the deal in order to move on.

We already have renters lined up for the property. Her mortgage is $2,101. We already have a renter lined up for $3,000/mo. and the renters can move in 30 days. 

After we discussed how subject-to works, she said she wants to discuss it with her husband and will call us tomorrow. (It was getting late.)

Any thoughts on the matter? I'd love to hear your feedback!

My husband mowed the grass twice while it was in our possession and I had someone put boards over the front door entrance as the glass door fell down after I bought the property. That wasn't an easy task as there was no longer any door frame, it had rotted away by that point. One of the neighbors came out and was nagging me about it (the other neighbor said it fell down during a storm a couple of days prior), "When are you going to get that fixed! I'm worried about what might come out of there..." Geez lady, I literally just got here and I'm on the phone calling someone making arrangements to get it closed up. Calm yourself... haha