All Forum Posts by: Susan Maneck

Hi Joseph, 

I'm an investor in South Jackson. There is a local REI club that meets for lunch on Thursdays at Scrooges on Ridgewood Dr. in Jackson. I've not been to their meetings but I keep meaning to go.

warmest, Susan 

Congrats! This looks like one of those row houses I used to live in when I taught at Franklin and Marshall in Lancaster. For the East Coast it seems like an excellent investment. As John says, this is addicting. I never imagined owning the nine properties I have now. That took me six years. My question is this: since you are in New York how are you managing this property? 

I guess the issue is whether or not she is prepared to pay fair market rent on the house? If you are wholesaler presumably you'll be selling the property to an investor anyhow. Whereabouts in Mississippi does she want to live? I own nine houses in Jackson which are all currently rented, but I'm willing to sell any of them including the one I live in. 

If you are working for someone else the best thing to do is contribute to your 401K up to match.  If your self-employed get a solo401K and buy houses with it if you want. But put enough into a Roth to serve as your emergency fund. I have to say that my funds did much better than Mike's but that maybe because TIAA-CREF doesn't charge so much to manage. Also, he started investing just before the Great Recession whereas my investments go back 1995 and I dumped as much as I could into the market during the recession. 

Here's the thing Michael. As long as you've held your Roth IRA for more than 5 years, you can take your principle out without penalty or paying taxes. In other words, it can be your emergency fund. And when you reach 59 1/2 you have access to the entire account. This summer I used part of my Roth IRA for a down payment on a condo in Lake Tahoe. It is rented now but will eventually be my retirement home. Yeah, the stock market is pretty high right now but there are plenty of investments that can made within an IRA aside from stocks, including real estate. 

The properties I own in Mississippi are so cheap I find the closing costs on a conventional mortgage are just not worth it. What I have done instead is refinance my houses using first place HELOCs from Wells Fargo after owning the house for a year. Yes, you can do it earlier but then they will only finance it for 70% of your original purchase price, whereas if you wait a year, they will give you 70% of the appraised value. Closing costs are from 0-$400. They tend to do drive-by appraisals which are on the low side. Interest rates are higher but they generally give you a teaser rate for the first year. I manage my HELOCs like I do balance transfers on my credit cards, paying them off each year when the teaser rate expires. Then I call them and ask for another teaser rate which I can usually get at about 3%. 

I hear you Anthony. I am not moving into a condo which I own because the HOA has a 25lb limit on dogs, and I have an eight year old lab who weighs nearly ninety pounds. I'm actually delaying retirement until my dog dies.

 My leases do not allow for pets, but if they want one they have to sign a pet deposit lease addendum. That's pretty common. I have fully fenced yards that are suitable for dogs. I draw the line on pit bulls and other aggressive breeds. I'd say a dog is worth keeping a decent tenant myself and if they really want one, they will move. What I won't allow is for tenants to keep a dog chained up. I also don't really want it to be an outside dog, they tend to be more aggressive and I am more worried about being held liable for a dog attacking someone than damaging property. If they are going to have a puppy I'd rather they keep it kenneled inside so it is properly socialized. 

 Wait a minute. Paying down a mortgage does lower your monthly payment. Once you get a mortgage your payments are set, they change it only for variations in your escrow account. The only thing paying down a mortgage does at that point is pay off the property sooner. 

Rankin County is KKK country.