All Forum Posts by: Suzie B.

IMO... if we are living well on passive income and have too much money... our kids will love us for it :)

I would rather help them financially, than worry about working too hard for the income and never using it.

Why not enjoy passing it on to family, or donating to our favorite causes?

I don't understand why they would have a problem with someone having too much money at retirement... unless they are just jealous that they didn't do it themselves!

Rich.... I believe one could easily live a lifestyle like yours if they have the dedication and drive to want to make life affordable and fun at the same time. Too many think that retirement means vacations and sitting around relaxing. Unfortunately, they aren't planning ahead and investing wisely and many will likely end up living a meager retirement lifestyle in front of the tv.

Hubby and I have awhile before retirement. He will likely ride out the w2 job for quite awhile as he enjoys it most days and it is a swing shift, so he has some week days every week to work on projects with me. I'm currently working on our flip project, and we both run our property mgmt business.

I don't know what our passive portfolio is going to look like in the future. We haven't been as aggressive about acquiring properties as many here report they are. We have to find the right buy and be comfortable signing another loan note. I am only comfortable with so much leverage. I want to be able to live comfortable without expecting any SS, etc. It's hard to look that far ahead, yet time flies!

I use trexglobal.com

You could try wording it both ways and see which gives you a better response. Chances are that your knowing the details of the tax deed sale is going to give them the idea that you are an investor of some kind anyway.

Low value home loans are hard to find. I think there are lots of factors on finding someone who will loan on a small amount like that. Debt to income ratio, credit history, previous rental history/experience, cash on hand I imagine are probably all very important. Smaller, home town banks might be your best bet. They are sometimes more flexible with their loans.

Haven't done a cash out refi on a rental, so not sure how that would work.

I've never heard of anyone waiting on hail damage to replace a roof... have to say that's a new one on me. I've heard that it happens occasionally, but not often enough to make it standard procedure around here.

Beautiful flip!

It sounds like you will have to decide if this is the right purchase for you.

Are there many multi-units that come available in the area you are wanting? What are they selling for? Can you get comparables right now for your loan? - When we bought our duplex, there were no others to comp it. We ended up negotiating a better price with the seller because our bank made us use a different loan type that cost us more. The seller really wanted out, so the came down in price to help us get the loan we needed. They could have held out for a cash offer, but were motivated sellers.

If there are not comparables easily available, keep in mind that that could be an issue if you would need to sell.

What is the current ARV? Turnkey is a nice bonus, but could you do better if you bought one that needed a little TLC?

Tenants paying their utilities is a big plus.
Doing your own property management saves you $$ too.
You still have some wiggle room should you have to move out of the area and higher a property mgmt company.

The 5k difference between you doesn't sound like much... but I know what a difference it makes when you're the one in the deal and you had your mind made up. :)

Honestly, I prefer the look of the pre- pictures over the post pictures. The over all look is much warmer and inviting. To me, the post pictures are almost sterile and cold.

The kitchen cabinets are dated, but hardware, and or/paint and hardware can make a major difference in the way they look. You don't show a pre- picture of the bathrooms which I find always need some work.

I have to remind my husband sometimes when we are renovating for a rental property that we don't have to improve it to our standards... and that likely they won't take care of it as well as we would either. One bad tenant.. and you do the project again.

I would do what you have to in order to make it nice, clean and livable. Spend too much and you will be forever recovering your expenses instead of gaining cash flow earlier.

If your rental market allows you to recover your cost for upgrades quickly with increased rents, then it might be something to consider.