Quote from @Jessica Eden:
Quote from @Kevin Sobilo:
@Jessica Eden, take a step back for a second. Here are a few things to consider:
1. If you barely have income enough to rent, even with a house hack you don't sound like you have the resources to cope when things don't go well. If you get a bad tenant you don't want that to cause you to lose your house!
2. Why do you have $60k in student loan debt but only earn entry level wages? What did you study? Did you graduate? What kind of work are you doing now (sounds like your own business)?
3. If your schedule allows, why not consider becoming a real estate agent as a side hustle. Many if not most real estate agents do it as a side job not their main income. It's also a good way to learn a lot before you jump into investing plus be able to increase that income.
4. What market are you in? The income your talking about might work in some markets but in others might not be suitable for trying to buy right now.
5. Were you planning to buy a single family and take on roommates or a small multifamily and rent out the other apartments?
I've certainly considered going into real estate as a side hustle as well! I've tried to secure a second job, but the job market here is really tough and many of my friends have lost their jobs and been searching for up to a year in several different career fields (CO). I certainly feels really embarassing to be 35, and 15 years into my career and making entry level wages. The unfortunate reality is that the national average is around 28k for hairstylists.
I own my own salon suite, and believe it or not it's the most money I've ever made in my career so going back to a traditional salon is not an option I plan to pursue.
I was planning to so a small multifamily (duplex or triplex), live in one side and rent the other out (my boyfriend would also be paying me rent as well).
There is no shame in what you earn! Anybody doing honest work has nothing to be ashamed of about it. Here are a few more things to think about:
1. Most real estate showings are evenings and weekends. So, if your current business is during normal business hours that could work out schedule wise.
2. Agents are typically 1099 self employed contractors. So, they control their own schedule and time and work 100% on commission.
3. You could ABSOLUTELY leverage your salon business to gain real estate clients!!! Agents need to find their own business to make money. A BIG advantage to finding business is your SOI (Sphere Of Influence) aka people you know. You interact with clients at your spa all the time and have the opportunity to chat with them and make it known you are an agent and can help them.
I have known agents who got business because they were bartenders or whose husband is an accountant and got referred business from him. That can be a nice advantage breaking into the business.
4. I was happy to see you said your current bf would "pay you rent" as opposed to buying the house together. I would keep things formal like that with him unless you get married because things can go SERIOUSLY sideways.
I knew someone who bought a house with a bf who couldn't qualify to be on the loan as a borrower. So, she was ALONE on the loan, but he was on the deed with her. Then there was a domestic incident and HE got an order of protection against HER. So, SHE was excluded from the house! He refused to pay the mortgage. So, in order to avoid foreclosure she was paying a mortgage on a house she wasn't allowed to live in!
5. When you say a "salon suite" is that just like a stall within a larger salon space or what? I'm a guy, so I just don't know these things. The reason I ask is that I would look at how to maximize your business as well in OTHER WAYS besides just adding clients.
For example, maybe you make a deal with other providers to sell gift certificates for their businesses at a small discount to help them gain business. So, maybe you sell a $50 massage gift certificate for $45 but pay the massage business $40 for it and make $5 in the middle. The massage business might be willing to sell you those gift certificates at that discount to try to gain clientele.
Another thought would be to sell some products to your clients that you like.
Every business looks at how they can increase what a customer spends. That is why you see impulse purchase items at the cash register or where the old catch phrase "do you want fries with that?" comes from. They are trying to get add-on business.
