"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'd get approved for the most amount the bank is willing to lend. It's a good hedge against inflation, and if you get into a jam on payments you can always take on a roommate.

I had 3 roommates in my 4 bedroom house when I was single. When I got married it dropped to 2.

Now we're in a 5 bedroom house with the other being rented out to 4 individuals. Plenty of room to take on a roommate or 2 in the new house and we've considered it. Probably won't work as easily once we have 1 more kid and need to start utilizing the downstairs bedrooms.

Ya. Wife and kids can kind of change how many roommate can be packed into the place.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Ya. Wife and kids can kind of change how many roommate can be packed into the place.

When the wife and I had 2 roommates, we never saw them. For some reason they were content to stay in their rooms upstairs despite having 2 living rooms downstairs. Best roommates ever.

You're allowed to discriminate for any reason when taking on a roommate too. I'm not saying that as an opportunity to express racism or something, only that you're way more likely to get a good one if you can get 8 people who are interested and choose the one most likely to not cause problems.

I turned away the hot single mom who seemed a bit emotionally unstable. I also turned away the guy whose only income was disability and that needed a place to rent after getting "suddenly" evicted for "unknown" reasons.

[redneck]

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Buy a duplex.


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[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by redneck

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Buy a duplex.

Harder to do with a $100k budget... but I did buy a quad in OK for $63k back in 2007.

Deals can be had if one is willing to put in the labor to fix things up.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

When the wife and I had 2 roommates, we never saw them. For some reason they were content to stay in their rooms upstairs despite having 2 living rooms downstairs. Best roommates ever.

You're allowed to discriminate for any reason when taking on a roommate too. I'm not saying that as an opportunity to express racism or something, only that you're way more likely to get a good one if you can get 8 people who are interested and choose the one most likely to not cause problems.

I turned away the hot single mom who seemed a bit emotionally unstable. I also turned away the guy whose only income was disability and that needed a place to rent after getting "suddenly" evicted for "unknown" reasons.

Sounds like renters in general where I live. It's very common for places to not accept families with kids even with perfect credit scores and no history of problems with rent because they're statistically a higher liability.

I know a family that has a great credit score, no history of problems paying rent or damaging rentals (in fact they've repaired problems that the landlord never got to with their own money) and make way more money than I do. But since they have a kid and a cat, even rentals up to $2,000/month for a two bedroom wouldn't accept them. They ended up having to camp in a camper for the past two years and finally got into a place just recently.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Deals can be had if one is willing to put in the labor to fix things up.

You still need to get financing.

The guy who runs Homemade Home finds seemingly-abandoned houses, finds out why nobody is living there, and convinces the owner to sell for cash in exchange for the YouTube guy fixing the problem.

I have found several places in Show Low that look abandoned, but the owner is up-to-date on the taxes. I should probably follow up anyway, but I would follow up immediately if they were behind on their taxes.

YouTube Guy says that he found his first house through Craigslist, but that owner was willing to carry.

I have seen a few ads on Facebook and Craigslist, but mostly stuff like an ad I just saw "Cash only! I absolutely positively will not finance! Don't even ask!"

Everything I see on-line says that they haven't really said no until they refuse to talk to you.

The ladies must love them!

Homes in my area under $200,000:
For sale by owner, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 950 square feet, and for sale for 117 days; they are asking $189 per square foot without a garage.
3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,008 square feet, for sale for 1 day; they are asking $197 per square foot without a garage.
2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 725 square feet, for sale for 19 days; $234 per square foot with a 1-car carport.
2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 916 square feet, for sale as-is for 290 days; $175 per square foot

The last house that sold in Show Low for less than a quarter million was 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and 1,043 square feet with a one-car garage for $230,000--$220 per square foot.

This one was similar and sold for $178,640 a year ago.

That is a 29% increase in one year!

[redpoint5]

I just don't think now is the right time to buy anything.

You can refi a mortgage, but you can't refi the principal.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Harder to do with a $100k budget...

Buy a duplex in a low cost region of the country - rent it out - continue to rent in your high-cost metro. It may sound crazy but every dime spent on a rental property is tax deductible. The same can't be said for your personal home. To me it is the best of both worlds with no maintenance on the rented home you live in but you still build equity in real estate.


We cleared $5000 in our first year on our $95,000 duplex that we purchased last summer. The house also appreciated $17,000 in that year.

We should have started doing this years ago.

[Isaac Zachary]

There comes up the question if there are better ways to invest. The stock market doesn't bind you too a fixed sum every month and can be more profitable with less work.

Of course it would be wise to not put all your money into just one thing because if that one thing goes south, there goes your money.

Also, who would be a good renter, or good at making money from renting? From what I'm hearing, you have to be the kind of person who says "no!" to a single mom with three cute kids or "no!" to an old lady who's only companion is her dog and instead rent the place out to a bunch of college kids. Why? Because the college kids are statistically less likely to damage the place than the kids and the dog and are much more likely to be able to pay the rent than the single mom or the widow.

[Piotrsko]

Where does one get behaved college kids? Most of what I've seen is they require the most post rental repair and cleaning. Vaacuum? What's that for? Holes in the wall, I dunno.....duct tape posters to the wall? Grease fires from the toaster oven??? BTDTMO

I'll take the old lady and the dog and then the mom if the kids aren't near teenage.

Your mileage can and will vary