Originally posted by @Katie Douglas:
@M Marie Maxwell ....[snip]
Our biggest expenses are debt repayment and rent. Rent is a third of our take home pay and a mortgage on this place would only be about $180 a month cheaper. I know it would help to reduce it, but we plan on moving in a couple of years. Our original plan was to buy it now and keep it as a rental property later but we worried it would mess up our debt to income ratio if we moved later. Also, we decided instead of paying for the down payment and transaction costs, that it would make more sense to pay off debt first. We thought it would put us in a better position to invest later. This condo is the equivalent to the cheaper houses around the area, but the property taxes on the houses are pretty high.
One major improvement would be if I worked full time. Right now I am an adjunct faculty instructor (I recently left a fully paid PhD program with my MA after my adviser left). I would either need to go back to school or otherwise acquire additional skills, and we would probably need to move again in order for me to find a full time position. We live in a very rural area (We spend little on entertainment because of this. For us the expenses are Hulu/Netflix/Amazon Prime streaming and occasional trips to the city/suburbs on the weekends- we live in the cornfields). But again here it comes down to personal finances - do we take on debt to increase our income- or do we continue to pay down debt and focus aggressively on investing in the future at a time when we are likely to have kids later? I would like to have several properties before we have children. This is a personal finance decision and would require some strategic decisions. My husband has a great career trajectory here and it helps for me to stay home when he works more than 10 hours a day and most Saturdays. I take care of all chores/cooking/errands/ and research for increasing our income.
{snip} Some of the debt we have accrued has been in the pursuit of activities that have the potential to generate additional income. But again- do you spend a little money to generate an income/build skills or should you just focus on overall debt reduction? Either way we have decided not to spend money on real estate at this time.
A condo comes with it's own set of headaches and expenses, and in the long run might not be any cheaper.
You say you live in a rural area. Why do people live there? If you were to try to flip or rent who would your buyers or renters be? You mention that you've had trouble finding extra work. Are there jobs in that area? It just seems that where you are geographically and personally, REI may not really work for you right now and maybe that's why it's frustrating. It maybe a different story if you were in a growing market or quaint small college town.
I'd say focus on a) debt reduction and b) saving. Only spend money to make extra money if you already have a skill in that area. In other words, don't spend money to sell things if you don't have a real talent to sell things. Also don't spend money on finishing your degree if you plan to leave the field or if you and your husband won't/can't move where the jobs are that make the degree worthwhile.
You may make money when you add value to things that people are willing to pay for, so invest in things where you add value.
