Masculine Excellence Requires Discipline

Lol Womab

Diary entry:

It looks like I need to get my other house in good shape to sell ASAP. Brother-in-Law has until the end of November to leave. I plan to be there in the beginning of December to do repairs.

Update on more realistic numbers below

^So I’m definitely selling, but there’s difficulties with that.

Money is tight as it is currently, and that’s not going to change in the next month or so - no matter how hard I try. I don’t have a firm number on repairs, but I’m willing to guess I could have all the repairs done for under 10k (if I do them myself).
I have a couple tools to leverage…

  1. Use an escrow loan to fund the repair cost (my understanding is it only covers repairs required for the home to be purchased, but I’m not sure if I can actually do this or not)
  2. Un-freeze my credit card and use this for all repairs (not looking forward to putting 10k+ on the credit card I just got done paying off.
  3. Home Equity loan (lots of paperwork)
  4. Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)

HELOC, Credit Card, and Escrow Loan are all decent options, but I’m not sure which is a better call, in my scenario. I’m leaning towards using my credit card for it. Someone tell me I’m crazy.

Writing things out here to organize my thoughts. Also happy to hear other opinions if anyone’s experienced with this… I’ve never sold a house before.

Okay, back to renovating my resume.

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How major are the repairs? Could knock 10k off the sale price if you have a willing buyer. Puts you in the same ending position and no cash out of your pocket.

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They aren’t that major but they’re the kind that if you saw - you’re going to be very adverse to paying full price.

  • Front and back deck need replaced as wood is rotting.
  • Water seepage from upstairs AC condenser (i think? I don’t speak HVAC) is going into one of the walls, possibly the ceiling.

If i walked into a house seeing these things, I’d be looking to see $25k off asking price, even though it only takes some lumber and dry wall to fix. Not because they’re that bad, but because it looks like the house just hasnt been taken care of. Its like buying a car that’s interior smells like cats… youre always thinking “where’s the cat piss?”

Im estimating maybe 5k in material costs, but making sure I’m prepared for 3x that.

I could be wrong in my assessment though. If i am, going the route you’re saying would be so much easier.

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Evaporator!!!:joy:
I speak HVAC

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:joy: :joy: the number of things i learn from this site that have nothing to do with lifting, i swear

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Push
Tuesday, Oct 29, 2024 at 3:21pm

Incline Chest Press (Machine)
Set 1: 315 lbs x 10
Set 2: 225 lbs x 13 [Failure]
Set 3: 225 lbs x 4 [Failure]
Set 4: 225 lbs x 3 [Failure]

Butterfly (Pec Deck)
Set 1: 200 lbs x 13
Set 2: 140 lbs x 17 [Failure]
Set 3: 140 lbs x 7 [Failure]
Set 4: 140 lbs x 5 [Failure]

Rear Delt Reverse Fly (Machine)
Set 1: 155 lbs x 20 [Failure]
Set 2: 155 lbs x 11 [Failure]
Set 3: 155 lbs x 5 [Failure]

Triceps Rope Pushdown
Set 1: 110 lbs x 11
Set 2: 80 lbs x 13 [Failure]
Set 3: 80 lbs x 6 [Failure]
Set 4: 80 lbs x 3 [Failure]

Lateral Raise (Machine)

Triceps Dip (Weighted)

@hevyapp

+20mins LISS

Strength was hurting this session, but these muscles are gonna grow whether they want to or not. Lets fucking go baby.

Cals yesterday were down to 1511 (approx) as i ran short on time to eat. Just taking it as a win.

Scale showed 205.0 this morning. Good sleep is a hell of a drug.

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From my experience, every time I take a moment to look down - I stop climbing so fast.

So like every movie trope in modern history, my motto is “don’t look down”.

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I am fully with you here. I wasn’t really advocating looking down, merely pointing out that I am never really happy with what I am doing. I must be greedy because all I want is more.

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Coming in on this late, but sure it’ll take say 23 years to make that amount, however, what about the theoretical gain in the property value (it could double in value every 10years)? Is it in a good location, near employment, schools and public transport routes?

Is there a long term plan on your portfolio? Let it increase then borrow on the increase for the next property maybe?

Not sure how supply and demand plays out in the USA atm, but here in Australia values just keep growing so better to hold onto and rent if you can justify. This one reads positively geared, so surely push that earnings into the next property or stocks etc?

2c and all that.

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A term I almost used to rename my log…
“Happy, but Dissatisfied”

I believe this is the mentality that all men should use for any and all pursuits in life.

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Theoretically, yes, it could absolutely gain more property value. I see no indication that anything would really get in the way of that either. Property values have done nothing but increase for the better part of 15 years.

This was (and still is, to some extent) the only viable reason I see not to sell.

I could see a scenario where I held onto the house for longer, renting it out, then decided to sell in a few more years - assuming property values continue to increase. That makes plenty of sense.

The house is not built well enough to hang onto for the full 23 years and expect it to be worth anything when it’s time to sell. It is built well enough to hold onto for perhaps another 6, at most… it’s already 14 years old.

This more or less aligns with what the current plan is. I would like to sell both houses, which I anticipate having >200k in cash after the sale of both.

I won’t be able to buy my next house outright with cash. Max mortgage I’m willing to pay for is 450k.

  • I could buy a 450k house and make the mortgage be that of a 250k house
  • I could buy a 650k house and make the mortgage be that of a 450k house
    • or anything in between
  • OR I could buy a 450k house and use the 200k for an investment and have that money work for me

In any case, the money is an investment… I’m just not sure which course of action is smartest from here.
*This is tomorrow’s problem, but it is something I’m thinking on. I do not know what sort of investments I could drop 200k on that would be worth the ROI.

I don’t do stocks outside of my employer 401k (retirement).

Thank you for prompting questions, I am always open to them.

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With some regular maintenance surely a house can stand for 100 years? Unless its flood damaged, rotting away or full of termites?

As investments, can you negative gear etc like we do here? Tax benefit of an investment vs money pit of your own (owner occupied) home…

If you’re deadset on limiting your mortage to 450k then given prices will only ever go up, maybe it’s best to sell and buy that ‘forever’ home now, as it’ll also only cost more to buy the same house in 10years time… in ten years time your house would have say doubled in value but your mortgage is sitting at 450 minus payments.

Longer term plans to hand property down to offspring, etc? Other fun things to keep in mind depending on your circumstances etc too.

If only we have a crystal ball. Ha. Good discussion here! and the new log name threw me for a second…

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If I built the house, or had it contracted to be built for me? Yes, my house would stand 100 years with maintenance.

That house? no, lol. The companies out here will buy up swaths of land, plop down 50-100 houses of similar but varying styles and sizes, build them as quickly as possible - to the minimum standard required, and sell them to the highest bidder.

In other terms, these houses were built with planned obsolescence in mind.

Absolutely, I would get a much better ROI buying the more expensive house. It would be the same % ROI, roughly, but the actual amount of money returned would be much higher.

This was the plan I wanted to do some years ago, which is why I initially wanted to continue renting the other house. Its just with property values going so crazy, it might make more sense to sell this one.

But if I’m not reinvesting that ~120k profit from this house into another venture, then I’m not really building on much, am I?
:thinking:

IDK, I’m trying to poke holes in my current plan and I’m very grateful for the outside perspectives to help with this.

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I’d say that’s a pretty one dimensional view of human value, assuming that’s not your entire view of value though? I see what you’re illustrating through it, but I’d say it’s equally applicable both ways, it’s possible for a man to replace a woman, with just as much ease.

Absolutely, a great relationship all round and I do absolutely cherish it all!

I’d say it demonstrates you place a higher value on the quality of the marriage, than the vows made at the beginning of the marriage. You probably wouldn’t find many who would differ from you there (apart from us religious type - even then a theology of “permanence” is increasingly rare).

That’s awesome to hear, all good relationships have challenges and it’s often in the working through of those challenges that the relationships become stronger and deeper.

Veering into this discussion as well (for context I’ve held a rental for 10 years, bought specifically as an investment and hold some small investments alongside regular savings).

I’d assume you’d invest the money into something, not just hold it, index funds are the text book answer, for a good reasons, (my largest position is in s&p500, a little in Nasdaq100 and some individual UK dividend payers).

Based on 2010 to 2020 performance of s&p500 your $120k would be $394k within 10 years (10 very good years), but the house doubling is less impressive in that context, plus the associated costs of repairs and hassle of tenants.

Where houses do win out is leverage, I bought my rental 10 years ago with a 25% deposit the rest the bank lent, the house has doubled in value (pretty much exactly in that time) and my mortgage is exactly the same as when I took it out (interest only for tax reasons - UK sucks for tax). Tenants have paid the mortgage (and I’ve profited every month as well), bank have given three quarters of the equity and I profit on 100% of the value of the house.

But obviously leverage is a multiplier of risk/loss as much as it is multiplier of reward/gain, depends on your risk tolerance.

Sounds like the property is a bit of a liability at present anyway, my property will start to cost me soon and the rental market is not landlord friendly in the UK so I’m considering exiting the market. I obviously don’t know your area, but is there a other option of selling both houses and buying something that would serve as a main residence with a rental attached?

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This is good advice, in my opinion. Personally, I’d like to hold onto a rental since you are dumping money into a 401(k) (smart decision), but maybe not a trash home with a limited life expectancy.

Some anecdotals in support.

My college roommate’s father had a condo in Aptos that appreciated in such a manner that he used it as an ATM to leverage other properties over time and ended up fabulously wealthy.

A teacher colleague leveraged a single rental into eighteen rentals over twenty years and a portfolio that far exceeded the performance of the stock market.

Obvs, if the real estate market goes up ten percent that is ten percent of the value of the home and not your cash investment.

Typical return on the stock market are simple to calculate - a 7% return doubles in ten years, a 10% return doubles in seven years.

So, you put $40K down on a $400K home and if the market appreciates at 10% you have a home worth $800K on a $40K investment.

Obvs, you have carrying cost, maintenance, etc… but the leverage is clear.

Not to mention the tax benefits - form an LLC and buy a $75K truck and depreciate the entire value in a single year. Mow the lawn (or have you kids mow the lawn) and pay them $40 an hour to do it - cash out the equity without paying taxes. Hire the wife to do the books, make your buddies Directors of the LLC and hold annual meetings in Hawaii.

There are all kinds of things you can do with RE that you can’t with an index fund. Of course, they are higher risk, but with greater risk comes greater reward. At your age, you can afford to take some risks.

I speak anecdotally, I am not that familiar with tax laws and the benefits, but I have seen people leverage RE to great advantage.

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Andrew addressed this but I would be willing to bet that the majority of homes built in the US today will not be around in 100 years. Quality of labor and materials have been going downhill for a bit now.

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This is also largely dependent on here you buy and what the market is doing. It is also possible to buy a property and not see growth in that time period. Surely you are old enough to remember at least one housing slump in the UK in the last 40 years.

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I paid $430K for my house in 2004. By 2008 it was worth $375K or so. Mind you, I put almost nothing down as it was NINJA years and I had nothing, so I was out roughly $50K in equity plus $3200 a month in mortgage payments (I certainly would have had rent as it was my primary residence).

It’s now worth roughly $650K. On a $30K initial investment, less mortgage more than rent based on the NINJA loan.

But, a $210K return.

It is a crap shoot. Different markets yield different results.

FWIW, I wanted to by a building in East New York for the same money that was six two bedroom apartments, turn two of the apartments into a four bedroom and live in it. That building is now worth over $2M.

The wife did not want to live in a ghetto.

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Yea 100%, there are some areas of the UK that just haven’t moved for a long time, but I think with housing if you’re buying with a long horizon (particularly in the UK with it’s massive housing stock deficit) - not needing to sell at any specific point in time you’ll probably be “safe as houses”.

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