Handyman · MN · Member since 2022 · 23 posts · 6 votes
Hi all,
We have just approached the last big project in our home. Adding a pair of basement bedrooms, and basement bath rehab. We would still have about 8 months left before we can sell (2 year min)
Our last couple homes have been 1940's, 800sq ft cramped homes with two beds and single bathrooms and we are loving having something three times the square footage! Plus a garage that can house a full size truck and all my equipment.
Has anyone else ever gotten too comfortable living on location? I'm not certain we would be ready to purchase a second home for an investment quite yet although we could be within a couple years.
This home has been a huge undertaking with comparables showing lucrative results on the sale price
Would this be the time to assess our future, whether to sit tight and try to expand. Or keep the end results in sight and try not to get too attached?
Any insight into this moral delimna is greatly appreciated!
@Nate Mur I have done two live in flips here in the Chicago area. The first was more or less unintentional, and it catapulted me to where I am today. The second, I still live in six years later! I believe you can live in your "forever home" for a long time and still access your hard-earned forced appreciation through cash out refinances and/or HELOCs to continue investing.
If I could do it all over again, the only thing I would have changed would be to do a more expensive live in flip this last time. I think I was short sighted and had a limited mind set. I could have purchased much nicer homes that would have appreciated more back in 2016 if I had been willing to have a slightly higher payment. Hindsight is 20/20, and It sounds like you found a very comfortable home.
@Nate Mur I have done two live in flips here in the Chicago area. The first was more or less unintentional, and it catapulted me to where I am today. The second, I still live in six years later! I believe you can live in your "forever home" for a long time and still access your hard-earned forced appreciation through cash out refinances and/or HELOCs to continue investing.
If I could do it all over again, the only thing I would have changed would be to do a more expensive live in flip this last time. I think I was short sighted and had a limited mind set. I could have purchased much nicer homes that would have appreciated more back in 2016 if I had been willing to have a slightly higher payment. Hindsight is 20/20, and It sounds like you found a very comfortable home.
The house I'm living in right now was supposed to be a live-in flip. My wife and I bought it about 4 years ago. We planned to remodel and sell in ~2 years but after the remodel we loved the house, plus didn't quite feel like moving and going through another remodel. So we stayed put and we're still here.
Nothing wrong with pivoting your strategy. The biggest downside for us is that a lot of our capital is tied up in our primary residence right now. And sure we can access it via a cash out refi or HELOC, but rates are high. And we love our 2.75% 30 year fixed mortgage :)
We have just approached the last big project in our home. Adding a pair of basement bedrooms, and basement bath rehab. We would still have about 8 months left before we can sell (2 year min)
Our last couple homes have been 1940's, 800sq ft cramped homes with two beds and single bathrooms and we are loving having something three times the square footage! Plus a garage that can house a full size truck and all my equipment.
Has anyone else ever gotten too comfortable living on location? I'm not certain we would be ready to purchase a second home for an investment quite yet although we could be within a couple years.
This home has been a huge undertaking with comparables showing lucrative results on the sale price
Would this be the time to assess our future, whether to sit tight and try to expand. Or keep the end results in sight and try not to get too attached?
Any insight into this moral delimna is greatly appreciated!
I've never done a live-in flip but here's what I would think about it. Do you have a dream home in mind that you would eventually love to have, or maybe a couple of vacation homes? If you don't then stay in the live-in flip. If you do then focus on what you need to do to eventually be able to purchase whatever your dreams are that you can't afford now. That focus may then lead you to sell the live-in flip.