Beegle wrote:I will be owner of a house (for the first time!) at some point between now and June, and want some advice from you guys. […]
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I will be owner of a house (for the first time!) at some point between now and June, and want some advice from you guys.
Any house owners here?
Is there stuff you wish you had known when you bought your first house?
Anything I should do prior to moving in?
Any tips or tricks that you found out later on, that you want to share?
Can be related to retro computers or in general, any advice or ideas will be welcome 😀
#1: Buy a duplex. At least a 2/1, preferrable at least a 3/2. Main reason is income. You can live in one half and rent out the 2nd. Depending on the area, mortgage, etc, you should be able to have the 2nd half pay for both units. BONUS: If you move out, you then get TWO incomes which leads me to #2.
#2: Never sell. Use the equity of what you bought to buy yourself a newer house and continue to move up. This is what my parents did for "retirement savings". They now have ~10 properties and the mortgages are starting to be paid off this year. Denver housing is INSANE, my mother had the money to retire VERY comfortably at 60. Basically instead of saving for retirement, they used the same money to maintain and acquire houses. Most people look at rentals and despair, mostly because they look at the short term. Maintenance, mortgage, taxes, insurance take up like 110% of the rent you take in. Stick with it, and get the mortgage paid off. Once you do, all that ugly breaking even or red ink suddenly becomes VERY LARGE BLACK.
#3: do repairs yourself. Don't know how? Use the internet, find someone who does. A case of beer goes a LONG way to making a friend who can show you how to fix something. Hell, I taught a friend all he knows about house maintenance, he would 'pay' me to come over, I would sit in a comfy chair with cold beer and a big tv and just instruct him how to do things. He would borrow my tools and I would occasionally have to get up and help, but after a few years he had his own tools and can do everything himself. Also do NOT BUY CHEAP TOOLS, it will screw you in the long run. Good proper tools make your life INFINITELY easier. That said, recognize limitations. I hire people to do roof work, mostly because the work is backbreaking and I REALLY don't like ladders. As a very large person I have a condition called fatty-fall-down-aphobia™
#4: Don't be afraid of a "bad" neighborhood. Most of the time it is exaggerated. I grew up on east Colfax (for Denver it really is a seedy area), and I'd say 75% of the hype is just scared white people afraid to live near the poor blacks. A couple of the properties that I manage for my parents are in this area, but in the last 4-5 years these "bad" neighborhoods have gentrified. Rents for a 3/2 have gone for ~$900 to $2500. And the house has quadrupled in value. I'm NOT even kidding.
#5: Always make sure the foundation is good. Everything else is easily fixable, double so if you follow #3.
I now manage my parent's properties. The pay sucks, but in the future I will be set. IT IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY AND YOU WILL MAKE SACRIFICES! I literally grew up helping my parents fix houses and maintain them because of renters. Other people have baby pictures of themselves having fun at parks or on vacations, mine are all on jobsites. I kid you not, my first words were "sweep sweep", but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Oh and if anyone wants renter horror stories, i got LOADS of them 🤣
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.