All Forum Posts by: Jarrett Harris

That is true. One of my tenants told me when they applied for the apartment, they get a government check every month for a relative they take care of and make an additional $1k a month "off the books" My other tenant works at a clothing store that pays him all cash (no pay roll taxes)

As @Michele Fischer said, it will probably be hard for me to enforce the 3X rent amount for income. My tenants are generally working lower middle class. My best tenant so far only makes about $8/hour working at target. But pays every month no problem. My rent is $800/ month.

Well I met with the bank today. They will not (and they say they have never) allow a mortgage assumption. I did specifically ask about the seller deeding the property over to us, and they said they will look into that. They also are starting to bid out the appraisal of the building so that we can see what it is really worth. Ball park estimate is about $1200

I kinda agree with Jason. Waiting until you pay off you other debt might take a long while. (My wife's student loans are not paid off) I do think you should reduce expenses any way you can before investing first. However to pay everything off before you invest is a looong safe, slooooooooow road. I just think you and your husband just really need to take a look at your personal financial situation before you complicated it with another investment.

Using your 401K as proof of funds is fine. Even if you don't plan to use it, they want to know it is there incase you really get in a jam financially.

@Christine Glasner

Has anyone mentioned yet that you proabaly shouldn't be getting a tax return.

Congrats

Hey Patricia, I'll share with you the story of my wife and I.

We have been married 6 years come this June. When we met she was in nursing school working as a secretary. A year after we were married she graduated while making about $16/hour as a nursing assistant. Her student loan debt was $80K She now makes over $50/hour. But it took some years of work to get where she is. I also understand every career doesn't allow pay jumps like that. Last fall we cashed out her 401K, pension, and part of my 401K to buy our first rental property. Although it has not been easy, the property is cash flowing positive. I don't recommend that everyone do what we did. Everyone's situation is different. You will have to look at the income of you and your husband to decide how much disposable income you have. And then look at things you can really downgrade like Cars, Cell phones, Eating out, Living arrangement, Cable/satellite TV, and shopping just to name a few. Somewhere in their are some luxuries you can probably live without. Getting rid of them will allow you to save more and pay debt down faster. Then you will be in a much better position to invest in Real estate.

Well as I said before I really enjoyed this podcast. The jokes and chit chat keep it from being dry and boring. You'll never please everyone. For many this was too long, but for some 30 minutes might be too short. As someone else said you don't have to sit for 2 hours straight and listen to the whole thing. I listen while working at my desk on my job 15-30 minutes at a time. My next step is to down load them to my smart phone and listen on my commute home. To each his own though.....

Thanks that was helpful.