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Originally Posted by JSH
Of course. This assumes one wants to invest in real estate. Most family's largest investment is their home and they are investing in real estate whether they realize it or not. Your personal home can lose huge amounts of value - just ask anyone that lives in a town or city where the primary employer leaves and is not replaced. Yes, diversification is key. Which is another reason not to make a huge stretch to buy a home in an expensive metro.
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Ya, home buying is something I'd like to get into, but am afraid to make the wrong decision. That and the costs are impossible in my area right now. Looking back, I see that in 2008-2009 I should have bought a house back then but didn't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH
I know plenty of people that are so stretched on their mortgage they have no money to invest in anything else up to and including not investing in their 401K to get a 100% match
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What's a 100% match? Sounds like an employee benefit. Sadly, in small towns like where I live the great majority of employeers do not offer benefits. Everyone is a small business or hire seasonally.
I get the feeling that where I live it's now getting the short end of both sticks. The job market isn't great and housing prices have jumped in leaps and bounds. The only way to make enough money and have benefits is to have a degree in something, such as being a doctor.
Of course that's another investment, go to college. But at my age it probably wouldn't be worth it even if I could.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH
Which is why you hire a professional property manager that knows the ins and outs of the business. The first thing our manager did was raise rents on our property from $550 to $700 a month to match the market in the area.
One side of our duplex has a family of 5, the other a single mom with a kid. No pets though - no way / no how.
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Where I live people with kids are getting put lower on the desireable list. There are several places that are known to never rent to people with kids. Maybe because there's been such a demand that rentors can choose at whim who best fits their perfect renter.
I know that this summer I tried to find a bigger place for my family; man, wife, three boys and no pets. I put in dozens of applications and paid hundreds in application fees and NO ONE ever got back to me with "we have a rental available for you and your family" even after my repeated inquires. Only one got back and asked if we were still looking but never got back to me after that with an actual rental available. But all of these places have rented houses and multi-bedroom apartments to single people who split the rent among room mates, most of whom are new to the valley and don't have 15 years living and working here like I do.