All Forum Posts by: Kent Hall

If this property is the one I am thinking of them your taxes are a bit off. When I researched it (if this is the one on Epcot) the annual taxes were $5200, not $2400. 

Also, do you really get insurance for a 4 unit for around $60 a month. Would you mind passing along who that is through. 

Best of luck. 

That is a tough scenario. I think that what you are trying to do is spot on, minimizing (or negating) your housing expense in order to bolster your saving and investing power. Unfortunately, as already pointed out by @Nathan Gesner, you are putting yourself in very precarious position if anything goes wrong and you have deployed ALL of your capital (plus some in this case). And not just with the house, what if your car breaks down? What if you need to take some emergency leave for yourself for a family member? Ect, ect. 

The most prudent thing to do would be: Find a nice but inexpensive rental and then live below your means for about a year, maybe you have a buddy who is trying to house hack and you can rent a room from someone else. Save all you can. Go to Mr Money Mustache website for some aggressive (arguably too aggressive for some) methods on cutting the spending so you can put some money away. Save up an emergency fund (3-6 months of liquid cash, how much will vary based on who you ask/read), then put everything that is left into an account to save for a downpayment, closing costs (although asking the seller for closing cost assist is also a great plan), and some reserves for whatever "little" issues come up with the house.

Then come back to it in a year and you will be in a much "safer" position.

Best of luck.

Good afternoon Malachi,

I am also an old (and future) Ohioan who is currently in Japan (Okinawa though) and investing in Southern Ohio.

Maybe we can have a virtual Sake and trade notes. What specifically are you looking to do? Single or multi? Higher cash flow areas or "safer" spots with better school districts and the like? You planning on buying with cash or financing? How has your "team building" gone so far?

Shoot me a PM and I can pass along all the gouge I've got.

Best of luck.

Kent

I think this is all about your risk tolerance. Appreciation being almost guaranteed sounds a little like "what could possibly go wrong", famous last words. And it is worth wondering why you don't hear about more people doing this. I know following the crowd can certainly lead you astray (and all the Warren Buffett-isms of be bullish when the market is bear and vice versa), but sometime you don't want to wander to far into the wilderness.

But if a market correction or slow down would not sink you financially, and you are okay taking on the risk, then you can come back here in 8 years and tell all the nay sayers that they were wrong.

Best of luck, whatever you choose.

Very well said @John LaBanca.

Eduardo if you have laid out your perspective as clearly to your friend as you did in your post then you have done what you can and should do. You will have a hard time rationalizing someone into taking the emotion out of their decision making process. People usually have to come to that on their own. Now if you are representing them in the sale, and you have a fiduciary responsibility, then that will complicate the matter. But if you are just offering advice (and from what you laid out, very sound advice), then the most prudent thing would likely be to step back and let them come to the realization that you are correct on their own terms. Hopefully losing $1.5k a month won't put them in desperate financial straits. And you never know, if they hang in there long enough maybe they will snagging the buyer they are after.

I hope everything turns out well.

I was debating the same thing about a year ago when moving from my house. I think the numbers you describe are very similar to my situation. I hadn’t bought the property as an investment. My wife and I bought it for a home. So the numbers didn’t work that well and I realized I was trying to force the situation to look appealing. But looking at it from the perspective of “would I buy this house to rent it out if it were being sold by someone today” gave me some clarity. 

We decided to sell. I took some of the money from the sale and bought an investment property where the numbers made sense from the beginning. 

Hope that helps. Good luck. 

I very much agree with Thomas, it is so easy to get really excited and want to be across the finish line before you even start. But there is no substitute for taking the time to educate yourself (you didn't learn to read, or do multiplication, or to do any involved task overnight). And, as you are reading about or listening to what others have done to succeed in REI you should spend a little time each day analyzing properties and crunching numbers and getting smarter on what is a good deal in your area of operation. And then as you start to build your network you can ask about the costs of rehabs and the cost of "other people's money", and that will all become more intuitive, and easier to calculate.

Take some time (not to much, but at least some), do your homework, and stay hungry.

Good luck.

I believe you can. This still fits into the BRRR (it would be second R for refinance).

Sometimes there is just no replacing putting in the time and studying homes in your area. 

If you get on the websites and see what is listed and take note of the pictures and size and bedrooms and then you watch them eventually you will get a good sense of property values. This is the realtor's unfair advantage, it is their job to be out in the weeds all day long both determining list prices and seeing what the properties sell for. 

If you put in an hour a night then in a couple months you will be able to have a great idea of what a property would sell for just by knowing the size, bed/bath, and seeing some pictures of the kitchen and bathrooms.

@Matthew McNeil

20 years? Is this a joke that is going over my head, I apologize if it is?

My car is older then that.