All Forum Posts by: Justin Dean

Location always matters! A bottle of water can be $.50 at the grocery store, $1.50 at the gas station, $2.50 at the gym, $3.00 at the movies and $6.00 on the plane… the same is true for real estate. Sometimes looking in a different market can give surprising results. Currently living in South Georgia I have noticed a lot of people coming from Florida buying in my area. They are always surprised how far their money really goes!What are some markets that you have found that have been the biggest bang for your buck?

So, my wife and I bought our first real estate property two years ago as our primary residence. I did a VA loan with 100% financing. The home has been a fixer-upper and we now have estimated 60,000 of equity if we were to do a cash out refinance. We originally bought the house with the intentions to have multiple exit options. We obviously are at that point now but have been hesitating due to the interest rates. We currently have a 2.7% APR on this property and would be going into a 6% if we did the cash out. In the recent episodes I seen where David Green talks about not using interest rates as a metric of investing if it gives you paralysis (NOT HIS EXACT WORDS). Due to this I am debating about doing a HELOC or a Cash Out Refinance now. I know that I would only be able to take up to 80-85% of the equity if I did the HELOC route but I feel that it would be a better option since I do want to do the BRRRR method moving forward; However, my wife and I have been looking at having our current resident as a rental as well and moving up house. Basically, we are wanting to combine the STACK method (William Turner) and BRRRR method (David Green). I have the end goal of wanting financial freedom through real-estate and being able to cash flow my kid's college when that comes. (They are two and three this coming up year) My wife's goal is to have a home for us and the family she can see herself living forever and our current one is not that.

Due to this scenario, I am wondering what is everyone's suggestion moving forward? Is there another product or option on the market that I am not thinking of that may be better. Is there anything that I may need to look out for when moving forward with either option?

Also I put Savannah, GA but I live near Valdosta, GA. 

I have been having a tough time balancing paying off debts vs saving for investments at this point in my life. I am currently working as a nurse and make decent money for the South Georgia area. 

I love being in the healthcare field, so I am not looking for a job/career change. I am looking to transition from Bedside and Emergency Room nursing to possibly teaching or acting as a clinical coordinator for the hospitals/college later in life. This would be too spend more time with family. Due to this I feel that cashflow is the biggest thing I am after. 

I do live in South Georgia where there is a rich cash flow area for lower class homes that need renovations. My biggest issue though is deciding my next step.

Should I be investing head long into the cashflowing properties in my area or paying down debts first to improve my debt to income ratio and monthly expenses. 

With my current income and work ethics I could pay off consumer debts in nearly 6 months to a year, but would of course miss the opportunities potentially in the area of real estate investing. 

Which do many of you recommend?