I discourage doing it now but would concede if you have experience with DIY projects of similar scale and you would likely do it anyway before selling the house. I'm negative on the idea as its a bad time for cost overruns and remodeling and rents seems a bad mix.
Thanks, yes, it's definitely a question of "when," not "if." The cabinets are 60 year old steel monsters, with doors that don't work well, and there's a total of about 18" of usable counter space. Ripping all that out and replacing it was the first thing I said I'd do when I looked at the house before buying it. It turned out that there were several jobs which were more urgent, but now we're up to this one.
As far as rents go, I'm taking a roommate not so much out of a desire for income--although that is welcome--but because it's a friend of mine that I feel confident I can enjoy living with while he goes back to school. It's really a situation that kills several birds with one stone; one of them is that I can feel safe going on a long trip and leaving the house to someone I trust. He's already said to me that he's fine with a bit of kitchen turmoil. If I get started on it right away, I have about 6 weeks to finish everything up before he moves in.
It makes perfect sense to me to remodel now, for every reason *except* that it's a large expense right at a time when I'm switching to low-income mode.
I had considered getting a small mortgage type of loan to pay for the remodeling now so it doesn't hit me all at once. But when I was buying the house the banks all laughed in my face at the thought of a mortgage, because of the nature of my job. My guess is that they'd laugh even harder now, right?
My general philosophy has switched to: if I have the money to pay for it, cash is always better than a loan. I'm not sure if that's actually true or not, but it does relieve a hell of a lot of pressure.
Assuming you'd be burning through around $2k a month, $10k is reasonable unless you are going to start a new business.
Thanks, that's a good point. $2k/month is probably a bit higher than my actual burn rate, but a good conservative number to use when answering the question "how big should the rainy day fund be?" I think it's smart to point out that my likelihood of starting another company should affect the number, I hadn't thought of that.
With all your uncertainty and the short time line, a high yield savings account would be my recommendation.
Right now it's in a money market. I guess what you're talking about is different?
I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer here unless, of course, your business plan sucks. :) In seriousness, if your lacking a well developed business plan, a year or two at a regular job makes the most sense to me.
That makes the score 4-0 in favor of "go get a job, idiot." But my gut is telling me to reject all the advice and strike out on my own again.
I wouldn't recommend maximizing it. I especially wouldn't recommend if you're a procrastinator but a few months seems like a great idea.
Right now it feels like a fairly mandatory course of action.
Don't worry about waiting until you mastery until giving back - the rest of us here didn't .
Yeah, thanks, I won't. It turns out I do have some suggestions for others already. I just wanted to make it clear that "although this is post #1, I'm not here just to take."
Thanks again!