All Forum Posts by: Johnathan Walton

My credit score is around 785 right now. I took the loans out when it was much lower. According to a calculator I found online, my front end DTI is 13% and back end is 33%.

I did some math and selling the car to buy a $7,000 car would save me 6 or 7 months so I'll just pay them both off before investing.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

I have a personal finance scenario where I'd like to know what other people would do if they were in my shoes.

In January 2021, I'll be about 18 months away from being completely debt-free (I'm currently renting for $1825/mo in Los Angeles) and I'm wondering if I should start investing at that point or if I should wait.

Once January hits, I'll have two loans left:
$45,000 on a car loan @ 6%
$24,000 personal loan @ 15%  
Minimum payments being $1125 and $437 respectively.

After all of my monthly expenses I'll have about $2500 per month to either throw towards debt or I can start saving for everything I need to buy a duplex or triplex that I'll househack in. From what I've gathered, I'll need to build an emergency fund that's at least 3 months of the mortgage and I'll have to save up the closing cost. I'll be using the VA Loan so I shouldn't have to worry about a downpayment. I'm estimating the monthly mortgage to be around $4000 per month so I'll be able to cover the full mortgage without a tenant if I combine my current rent payment plus the $2500. It'll leave me tight but once I have a tenant I'll be fine.

My question is Should I finish out the 20 months and be debt-free, going in with ~$4000 of discretionary income; pay off the 15% loan in 8 months (from January so Aug 2021), going in with ~$3000 of discretionary income, or is it wise to start now with ~$2500 of discretionary income.

TLDR Should I start investing now with $2500 per month, pay off a 15% APR loan in 8 months and invest with $3000 per month, or pay off a 15% and a 6% loan in 18 months and invest with $4000.

Thanks for the advice! I'll keep with the plan and reevaluate once I'm ready to buy a second property!

Hello, this is my first post and I'm in the initial stages of learning about real estate investing.  

I want to house hack a duplex (possibly triplex). It'll be my first/only property but I want to be able to afford the entire mortgage alone as if there are no tenants. I feel like this eliminates the risk associated with vacancies and renters that fail to pay but is this too cautious of an approach and am I just limiting myself on what I can buy without good reason?

My only other thought is to use the emergency fund I'll have to cover several months of expenses if I do have a vacancy or if I go through an eviction process.

Thanks!