All Forum Posts by: Steve Walko

I think you'd generally want to analyze the deal as fully occupied, as you will not be living there forever I presume, and want to make sure the deal makes sense when you move out. Don't forget to deduct the vacancy rate though from your income calculations.

@Lance Robinson

Thanks so much for the response. While I think some in this thread have read me as already being committed to investing in RE before paying off the debt. I do think house hacking a duplex makes total sense. What I do with the savings is the question - debt pay down or RE investment. And at the moment, I'm actually leaning towards paying down the debt. Do you see a problem with the house hack idea?

Do you have a good estimate for what % should be knocked off the gross ROI to get the net of taxes ROI?

Definitely sound advice. I have been focusing on ways to increase my revenue this year. I think I'll clear 60k in gross income, but may be able to get close to 70.

I think that's a good way to look at it, but shouldn't it only need to be 7% THEN apply a risk premium?

@Roshan K.

Any recommendations?

No credit card debt. She has about 5k in a car loan to pay off. 

We actually went to the bank to day. Because we are both self-employed, but more recently, we don't have the income to get the kind of loan we hoped for, but after next year's taxes, we should be all good. We will pay off the car loan and my smallest student loan (about 2.5k left) for sure and maybe chip away at the rest of my student loan debt and then househack. We will decide then fully whether we will save for more REI or debt pay down.

@David Mohrmann Yes, they are.

@Joe Splitrock I think you are misreading me, though I get how. I'm tentatively adopting the REI route to see if someone can convince me of the holes in it. I obviously lean i that direction because of the simple math of it, but my emotional side of course is worried it won't work out.

Also, I have spoken to my fiancé of course. She is almost more in favor of the REI than I. I am trying to make sure SHE knows about the risks involved.

I got a quote from SoFI online, the lower interest rates were only available as low as about 5.5 for paying it off in 7 years. Not the big of an improvement. I would probably rather keep the minimum payment low so I have more options.