All of these replies have been so helpful. I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to give your input and contribute your thoughts. I have some additional points and questions for you all and anyone else who might have some thoughts or ideas.
@Trevor Ewen
Thanks so much for the link to the John Schaub podcast. I've bookmarked it on my phone and it will be playing in my car ob the way home from work. And I also have a W2 job (which is great but not fulfilling if that makes sense). The goal for myself and my husband is to lower our monthly expenses and build a business flipping distressed properties, having the income from that and being able to pay ourselves a salary such that we don't need the W2 income.
First step is to sell our enormous FL house and shed all the costs associated with it, trade it for a simpler way of living. If our monthly expenses are lower, it's easier to meet them with income we create.
You touched on a really good point. We like the idea of being free and unencumbered and totally liquid which is why we considered renting. But when I think about the fact that we will pay more on a monthly fixed basis for the privilege, I wonder if it's worth the trade.
Also, I'm not sure I can swallow the idea of paying for a landlord to profit, as you said. I love landlords, my uncle is one, but I'd rather be on the income end of that deal ;) . You're right in that we have to be careful not to buy such a fixer with our cash that we're beholden to blowing everything available to us via a HELOC on making it livable.
@Michael R
Yes this is our primary goal, to get our monthly bills as low as possible and thus have the freedom to do what we want, that is to say, achieving financial independence and building a business of our own. At worst we'd be financing maybe $30,000 of our primary residence. Best case we pay all cash.
@Charles Worth
I never even thought of this point - that buying all cash, while an easier transaction, can be dangerous because no one is requiring these things we all take for granted like inspections and appraisals. This is why I knew that coming here and asking you all was mandatory before we made a decision. I can't thank you enough.
I have a further query though. When you say you can get a better deal with cash, does this also stand when purchasing a straight MLS, from an owner, through an agent kind of property? Or is this only when dealing with distressed properties? For our primary, we're looking for something in fairly move in ready shape so that we're not sinking more cash into extensive renovations. We want to save that cash back for investing. So would we, as cash buyers instead of financed buyers, look any different to say, Jack and Jill Smith selling their little cape on Main Street through an agent?
@Dennis Pressey Jr
It's great to hear this about Pittsburgh. I've suspected that it was kind of a perfect market for what we want to do given the market stability I've seen but I wondered if I was just making things up. I should have mentioned in my original post that I'm actually from Pittsburgh. I was born there and while my parents left with me when I was a kid, my mom is there now and I've visited and been present in the culture enough to know where we want to live and what our criteria are. So my hesitation to buy isn't for the same reason as it might be if we were moving to a new city where we knew no one and nothing. For us it's more about whether we'd be financially better off spending a little more monthly to rent but having that $100,000 + liquid and free to buy distressed properties for rehabbing and flipping
or
Putting that $100,000+ into the purchase of a nice, modest, relatively move in ready house for us to live in, having no mortgage (only taxes and insurance) and then opening a HELOC, which we'd use, combined with our dual W2 income that we're now not spending on mortgage payments, to buy distressed properties for rehabbing and flipping.
