All Forum Posts by: Tammy Laverty

@Account Closed, it does bite! We call that time our "school of hard knocks", but it brought me to where I am, without starry eyes. I have a vision forward, and the determination to make it work on my terms ;) It has been really hard, financially, but valuable too. 

**sorry I wish I could edit my posts! lol :) I wanted to add that I ran my numbers though the calculator with conservative estimates the cash-on-cash return, if I were renting both units, is 20.7%. Perhaps this isn't necessary info, since we wouldn't be renting both units, but I thought I'd add it.

Retirement expenses are huge for my husband and I, as we tried to start a company right before the economy tanked... and lost all our retirement investments just trying to keep our heads above water. We are really starting out at zero here, and securing our future is a very big deal to us.

This kind of confident answer makes me smile :) Thank you for that! Since we are at the very beginning, I am trying to get my bearings. I feel like a 100% mortgage payment in a desirable neighborhood is a good goal to have. Buying this house would mean we are comfortably set for basic retirement expenses, as I could easily see living in the cottage and renting out the main house for good money. 

So I'm looking into 2 options, one owner occupied, the other isn't. We are looking to buy our first investment property, and we do not have deep pockets, so this is ground level for us ;) I'm trying to make a stable first step, so that we can build from there. What do you think?

 house a) beautiful, wide tree-lined street with big, established houses, drs/lawyers and executives as neighbors...quiet street very close to a hot downtown area, highly desirable area near great restaurants, walk to riverfront parks, walk to train to NYC.

*this house is a retirement investment. We LOVE this town. Would retire there some day (I am 36, so thinking down the road).. it only has a 1.2 % cap rate though. There is a completely separate, adorable 2 bedroom cottage behind the larger house. We would rent the larger house and cover the mortgage 100%, living close to everything for next to nothing. Perhaps, once we have other properties bringing in income, we would switch and move to the main house (the cottage would pay a good chunk of the mortgage), but maybe not. Options are nice though! :)

house b) This is definitely not a neighborhood we would live in. It isn't an urban wasteland, but it is definitely on the lower income suburban side of things. 3 units, 3.4% cap. We would just keep our current home in this situation. Not sexy, but solid. It would cover its mortgage, and give us about $800 free and clear every month (after deducting for vacancy and repairs) to cover half of our home's mortgage.  So not mortgage free, but it would still help.

This is purely an exercise in thought process. Given that we are looking to eliminate our mortgage to free up cash for saving toward our next place, house a seems good, but its cap rate isn't as good as the other. However, should I be thinking of cap rates in this way when our first goal is offsetting our mortgage? Thanks for your advice! I'm so excited about our first baby steps 

Thanks! Excited to join this community :)

My husband and I (and 2 kids) are looking to hack our life a bit. We both got battered by the last economic downturn... and are finding our retirement accounts and saving slim these days. I feel like getting into smart real estate investments would be a great way to rebound and then grow our finances from there. We're both creative and handy around the house, and definitely not afraid of some hard work. I'm thinking of making our first investment property a duplex that we can live in to eliminate our mortgage.