Scared Vulnerable and desperately needing life changing finances
Hi Everyone,
I found this place through a youtube video of another channel from reading the comments and one of the comments mentions BiggerPockets. So I did the google search and here I am.
About me, I use to do what I though was pretty good for my self at the age of 35 I was a commercial truck driver Hauling cars around the western states mostly here in California. I made on average about $60k per year. It was the best money I had made my entire life with out a college education. That all came to an end after a severe motor cycle accident almost took my life and left me disabled from then on. I have been on SSDI since and barely getting by. I purchased my home I live in now with my mother. I convinced her to purchase a home with me in 2011 when the housing prices were at about the lowest in my area. My brother was living with me before I purchased my home as he did not have a job and had recently moved back out here from Texas and needed a place to stay. After purchasing the home with my mom my brother finally was able to get a job in his trade as a CNC Machinist.
Fastforward to 2019, I had asked my brother to move out because I was in love with a woman that had 3 kids and we needed the room my brother was in. He gave me a little money to help out every month but when she moved in she began helping out financially a lot more than he was and in all honesty she was my lover so it made sense to me that my brother needed to move out since I needed the room for her children. Now after exactly four years she has moved out leaving a huge financial strain for me and my mom. We are getting by but it's not easy and I don't want to continue living life just barely getting by every month with barely enough money. I don't have anything left over every month for luxury things like going out to eat, hobbies like fishing or even going to a movie.
So I'm here looking to learn as much as possible about Real-estate Property Investing and trying to figure out if its right for me. I am thinking I can take a free course to get a Real-estate License and I am also trying to figure out what I can do to get off of disability. I hate that I'm disabled and feel very bad about my self as a person. Somethings gotta give. Recently I the doctors discovered that I have an auto Immune disease Ankylosing Spondylitis. After all I have been through at my age now I have to deal with this. Any way I really need to find a way to make a better living for my self and my mother who I fear does not have many years left.
I have considered refinancing to get the money for down payment on new investment properties but I don't want to increase the payments on the loan for the home both my mom and I are living in. The other things I am thinking is that the bubble may burst at any time and property values will drop like a rock again and I'll be stuck not able to get new loans based on the investment homes being worth less than the loans on them. I'm very scared to make any kind of move but I know I can't continue to live life the way I am now. I have considered renting out a room or two and possibly even renting out the Master Bedroom with walk in closet. The home is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath and the master has his and hers sinks and bath tub and a separate closet shower. I could live in the loft area while the rooms being rented out could generate positive cash flow. Sure it'll not be the most ideal conditions to live in but I'd be a little better off financially and able to stress a lot less knowing that I can start saving every month and get out of debt that I got into during the last relationship.
I'm not against turning my home into an investment home and renting the entire thing out but that put's me and my mom on the streets unless I have another property investment we could move into and at here age the volatility and moving in and out of new homes is not a good thing for her. Heck it's not a good thing for me either come to think of it.
Other considerations are moving to a marketed area that is easier to establish investment properties " cheaper market " or just visiting the areas for purchasing considerations then coming back home after each purchase and letting a property manager deal with the investment properties after they are ready for rental.
I'd love to hear what ya'll think about my situation and some of the things I should consider before taking a leap into this property investing business. Oh I forgot to mention I am handy with my hands and have some knowledge of carpentry, plumbing and electrical but mostly all from my own do it your self builds and repairs.
If you made it this far and read the story up to this point I'm honored.
Thank you,
Anthony B.