All Forum Posts by: Christopher Lane

Very suspicious.

@Christina Yun We absolutely are. Great to see we are in good company :)

Hey team, I'm going to present a case, my own personal case.  I hope to learn what you would do in my situation.

Goals: purchase property to hold and gain passive income, possibly renovate and refinance for more purchases.

Situation: I currently own a 3 bed 2 bath condo in Oceanside California. I purchased in 2017 with a VA loan. Purchase price was $365k with closing costs of $7k rolled in. Total mortgage amount = $372k.

Appreciation: Appreciation has been good and the house is valued around $403k - $410k. 

Current loan: I have $352400-ish remaining. at 3.375% interest. plus monthly HOA of $357.

Misc Financials: I have about $11k between a Roth and traditional TSP (thrift savings plan for the military types - IRA/401k type product) willing to withdraw from. Currently in the Reserves but on deployment making about 12k/month tax-free, but only from August 2018 to April 2019. Wife is trauma Nurse in San Diego and taxable income was $92k this year. Current credit score for me is around 680 - wife is around 740 (I had to max out 2 credit cards for a surgery :( for my poor dog) I expect to pay them off within the next two months. Then I will be debt free minus $7k left on a loan for the wifes' engagement ring.

So, Friends, what would you do?

 Hey everybody, I had no idea that this post would get this much attention. First thing, I’m so thankful that everybody took the time to give me their advice, the caring words and the hard truths. It certainly shows me that this community cares about each other and I’m very thankful to be a part of that.  Secondly my wife and I had a long chat and she is willing to learn more, but at her own pace. I told her to read the book Rich dad poor dad and we can go from there.   thirdly there is no way that her and I are splitting up over this. Yes we have different mindsets but that doesn’t mean that we can’t complement each other when we figure out how to use our past experiences together in harmony. We came to an agreement that I would pay off another $10,000 in debt  (almost all)  and have $5000 in the bank for emergencies before I can buy another house.  Thank you guys for your advice on her, it would appear that she was not as well as informed as she wanted to be which led to her discomfort and reaction’s. She is the type who is used to being in control over situations and sometimes it creeps into our marriage. I hope some of you can use this going forward.

@Victor S. Shes a frugal gal, even though we don't need to be. She supported me going overseas after being married only a month, shes supporting my decision to join me to Germany next, but shes never owned a house. Ever. and the thought of her buying a place with me scares the living heck out of her. Very supportive and absolutely the one for me, its just this is the only bad thing about our relationship. This is something we dont see eye to eye on, but shes never invested in anything, never bought a house and knows nothing about REI or homeownership.

@David Mock Completely agree, totally not a risk taker and I tried that route I got some traction but not much.

@Kyle Schlosser I did the BP calculator ad nauseum and sent the PDF to her, we went over it and it wasn't good enough.

And yes, I completely agree$400 is chump change but its one of the few deals I can afford currently and has the highest ROI for a decent-ish property. Eventually, I want 100 doors, but gotta start small and snowball it up. I know multifamily is the way to go but I can't afford anything incredible out the gate.

@Kyle Schlosser That's a great plan, and I intend to do that, but I need to get past the roadblock of our first rental property.

@Josh Dane I've been thinking the same thing, but she supported me deploying after being married only a month, and she supports many other things in my life, this is just one thing that she really puts her foot down on.  The worst part is that I want to do this for our family not just for me.  That's the real hangup.

@Tim G. I am in the military stationed in Kuwait, I make about $160k a year tax-free since the higher powers consider this a combat zone.  And yes, using the BP calculator I found a deal that would cost $15k-ish to get into and would pay $471  month with the currently occupied tenant paying the current rent (which was below market by $50.)

I really want to start this BRRR/stack because I want this house and the following houses to pay for my wifes' student loans, and provide us with the opportunity to be around our kids when we have them.

@Dennis M. Thank you, I am absolutely head over heels for her, but it's frustrating seeing her get in her own way. I do want to have these all managed by professionals so I don't have to deal with them.

@Ray Johnson I only did it as a placeholder until I activated again with the Military, I drove a lot trying to sell solar panels in SoCal, I thought it would be like shooting fish in a barrel but it turned out to be monotonous and nothing like what I wanted to do. Funny enough you mention investments, I put $800 into a mutual fund 10 weeks ago and lost almost $130 on it, so she used that against me too. I don't know that it would work. But it may be different if I showed her her investments since they probably dropped too. she wouldn't even begin to entertain mocking up an REI online.

@Drew Solidum I showed her the BP calculator print out, I showed her where you input ALL the expenses and she saw that it spit out $471 a month. still thought it was a bad choice.  "what if there's a fire or flood?" I told her insurance.  It's like she wants it to fail so that shell never have to think about taking a risk.

@Ibrahim Hughes you nailed it! she wants security.  But according to her, I can't take this "risk" because we'd lose money if it went sour. (albeit we can afford to lose this money more than most people, doesn't mean we want to lose money but you get my point).  I completely agree with you though, make her a believer with PROOF!   But I'll ask you, how should I start since this is a catch 22?  Buy a property to earn money without buying a property.

Thanks @Peter Bras!