Hi Everyone!!
I just joined the site, love it! Stumbled upon it through real estate researching and I'm so glad I've found it! Just became a Pro-Member after Brandon's last webinar. I'm also listening to Scott's set for life book which is incredible!
I'm from Stamford, CT. I own one rental, purchased in 2007 for about $112,000, it has an estimated worth of $165k now and I make about 12% each year return. The second property my wife and I own is our condo, also in Stamford. I'm a Property Manager full time and I'm close enough to work I ride my bike, Scott's book is my bible right now and so much of the content I'm applying now and was before.
I jumped into Property Management 3 years ago after a long run in the Hospitality Industry, best switch I ever made! Being a first generation Italian, my Dad didn't believe in paying rent. He schooled me on the idea of buying a small place, which I did and rented it out for a number of years before getting married and moving in. It was from that purchase that real estate sparked my passion and drive for financial freedom. I used my dad's home equity line of credit to fund the property and my own cash as a down payment. A year later he sold property in Italy and paid off the line of credit. It's because of him I have a rental that is interest free and cash flowing. I had no idea about anything when we bought the property. We bought it because he was a mailman in the area and we found out the owner was selling it without a realtor. It ended up being a great buy. Everything from my full time job I'm able to apply to my side hustle of real estate. This website has helped educate me even more!
With equity in both homes, my wife and I are looking to take the next step and I'm utilizing Bigger Pockets to educate myself on what that next step should be. Should I sell my current condo and buy a home, or stay in it because it's cheap. I also used my father's home equity line of credit for the condo we are living in. It cost $137k, HOA fees are $240, and property taxes are only about $2200 a year. I have enough equity in my rental to buy a fixer up (looking at New Haven/Yale area). I'm thinking about using the equity in my rental to buy another rental, and selling my current condo to buy a house. My mother in law lives with us and pays $600 a month, I only pay my dad $1000 a month for our place, but I pay the HOA fees for both places which is about $500 a month. I love the fact that I have so much excess cash and I'm afraid if I buy a house I will loose that, unless I save up enough to put down on a home that it matches my current expenses. I'm only 32 and we don't have kids. My dad is about 67 and he is great with masonry, landscaping, and has a ton of contacts. I would love to have a house so we can work together on projects and increase it's value, a house hack. I was thinking of a 3 bedroom with an unfinished basement, finish the basement and rent it out, and have my mother in law take one of the bedrooms. I would then have 2 people paying rent within the house. The problem is, I want my next home to be near my job so I can continue to ride my bike to work, home prices are very high or in the ghetto. I have about $43,000 left to pay off on my current place and about $76,000 on my rental, leaving me with about $183,000 equity with both places.
