All Forum Posts by: Christian Lincoln

Charles I could, I guess, I could but I'm putting up another 75,000 or so to own it outright and still breaking even. Use the equity in the re-fi to give to her right?

i'm very fascinated that so many responses hinge on just 2 or 300 bucks...that is it's a little cash positive it's good and if not, it's bad. that this outweighs historical appreciation numbers? very interesting.

In which case, i guess the moral of the story here is i have to sell everything and go by a small apt building with a 10% ROI. (my goal being cash flow enough to write).

yea i get selling if it's not cash positive, I have more trouble getting selling a house now - netting 50k, rather than keeping it for 25 years and netting 500,000 (at 6% appreciation - who knows). but i suppose that involves 25 years of thinking about that house, and how do we price that?

Jared...managing 1 investment building rather than 20 houses is much more appealing yes. if i want my days mostly free. i just thought the road to buying a small apt building is ten houses first. as I don't have a million sitting in the bank.

Ryan. i hear ya. no leverage. it's partly because i did all the work myself, only house i've been attached to. but honestly i prob. won't go back and live there.

footnote: I'd split that equity with my ex. so i'm starting with more like 50-70k on next go around.

Jon,

that does seem like a better plan than speculating, but specifically which direction are you thinking? residential, commercial apt?

Aaron, I can re-fi and gain a couple hundred. It's close enough to NYc that it will always appreciate steadily and be ripe for selling when i hit retirement...

however, to Jared's point; I need about 50-60k in cash flow to live the life i need to live. If I paid off one of these houses (both rent for about 2k) I'm halfway to my goal...no?

hey gang in lieu of a mentor, can I pose a question? which you may answer with a question or just vote on. (Kind of like playing chess this real estate stuff espec. when life variables shift.)

I have a house (was/is mine, totally renovated with TLC) worth @ 400k..maybe 250k left on mortgage. It breaks even barely (200 short) of mortgage. It's in a vacation area so I could make more doing short term rental. I'm guessing closer to 2,500 a month on average w/t vacancy %. (i would even gross 2,400 if I lived in it with 2 roommates.) Do I:

1. kick reliable long-term tenants out. switch to short-term rentals? (close enough to do changeover or hire housekeeper). I'm not so busy I can't manage a bit.

2. keep longterm tenants - call it very long term investment.

3. sell and invest in higher R.O.I. property?

goals: enough income to write full-time.

p.s. my other investment property breaks even as well. cash+400

thank you!!!! friends.

Yes one of my non-cash flow props is in Utah. I actually love going out there once a year and doing repairs. Excuse to travel.
But Darren I can't wait 5 years to have my creative time - I need to do it half day the way I'm doing it now. The other place I'm looking is HudsonValley. Yonkers I maybe could afford. Poughkeepsie... new paltz. Very interested in FHA 203k

I don't know why this fascinates me so much (and I recently pitched a reality tv producer about it - with a charity bent to it) but the idea of turning a certain sum into a much larger sum in a time frame captivates me in an unhealthy way. (leans more towards the aesthetics of leverage and efficiency and freedom than greed i think). Probably because I don't have a family now, no kids, and a few years away from turning 50, I don't feel the need to be as "conservative" with my investment strategy (diligent and aggressive, and smart: yes) as I might normally. Feel the need to make up for lost time maybe. But I'd like to hear people weigh in on turning 100k into 100k of passive yearly income in say, to be fair, five years. Not too over-the-top in aspiration. The goal being enough net income to write, read and sail without worrying about bills. That's it. I don't need anything else like toys - but only to be relieved of overhead, bills, and normal stress. 100k annual net does that fine.

assumptions:

Added variables:

mediocre credit

I'm a very good all-around carpenter, but want half my day for my creative life.

highly creative: would rather put that energy into other areas of life that renovating and design but willing to mix rentals with flips for a few more years.

have a couple nice houses that only break even now. no cash flow.

willing to invest anywhere in US or Europe. Love California (too late there i think), love Spain (still good there i think). Live in NY. Missed the train in NYC, too rich for my blood, but upstate still deals. Florida?

thank you kindly for any an all who weigh on this "What would you do?" question.

-Chris