Author Topic: What was old is new again with our economy?  (Read 7197 times)

Linea_Norway

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Re: What was old is new again with our economy?
« Reply #50 on: August 28, 2018, 06:22:24 AM »
Well if you are selling a clown house then I would spend the winter months cleaning, painting, and prepping to go to market in April. I think it's no secret that the best prices come in spring but there are exceptions. Scrub it up and sell off whatever items you won't be taking to the next home. Buying the smaller home might be a challenge due to some healthy competition for the 1500sqft homes. Around here 3bd 2Ba 2car garage is just ridiculous in the market. They are having bidding wars and over-paying by $15-20k. Now, where to invest? That is up to you. I have invested for 10 years in these three bedroom houses that everyone is buying lol. I haven't sold any of them because they are rentals. If I could simply buy another for what I paid for the first I would sell them all, but that isn't the case. Flippers are having a hay day around here selling trash work for top dollar. My next rental very well may be new construction.

We have already started to prepare the house. We have painted (with tar) the whole outside of the house. We are currently solving a drainage problem that the previous owner caused. We are smearing stucco on a wall that needs it. I have had a real estate agent visiting to give me a price and his opinion on what needed to be improved.

Bearblastbeats

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Re: What was old is new again with our economy?
« Reply #51 on: August 28, 2018, 06:35:17 AM »
After reading this thread, I have a few concerns:

- Would it be bad to leave my current 'secure' job for a 3-month temp to hire job making $25k more in the same city?

- I was planning to buy a house when my lease is up next spring, with a baby on the way (late Feb 2019) would it be better to keep renting, or buy a house if this whole recession thing happens and scoop one up for cheap money?

Capt j-rod

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Re: What was old is new again with our economy?
« Reply #52 on: August 28, 2018, 07:13:04 AM »
After reading this thread, I have a few concerns:

- Would it be bad to leave my current 'secure' job for a 3-month temp to hire job making $25k more in the same city?

- I was planning to buy a house when my lease is up next spring, with a baby on the way (late Feb 2019) would it be better to keep renting, or buy a house if this whole recession thing happens and scoop one up for cheap money?

No one has a crystal ball. If you want the proof take a look at the thread "top is in" I have considered pulling out more money from stocks all summer. I just don't have a better place to invest it. I also have plenty of other cash to weather a financial shit storm in the market. Housing is a very regional item. Houses are still very reasonable in my area compared to bigger cities. Someone from California or New York would think that everything was 1/2 price. The region doesn't have the salaries and jobs to drive it to those levels. Then there's interest rates and loose restrictions on loans. The restrictions don't really affect a mustachian as we seem to have good credit and 20% down. How long do you plan to stay in the area? Are you looking for a "forever home" or just a stop along the way? Renting is cheaper than owning and gives you the freedom of not owning.
The temp job... How hard is it to find new work? Are you offered maternity leave at your current job? Will the extra money get you somewhere faster? If you think of the tortoise and the hare, most people think a mustache makes you a hare when working towards retirement. In my opinion we are the tortoise with a laser guided GPS that never wastes a step. Sometimes the leap will pay off, sometimes it will burn you. If your finances are sound then you can really do no wrong. I do plumbing and HVAC... If I don't get the next job I don't freak out. If one of my rentals is vacant I wait until I get the tenant that I want, not the first person with money. All because of the way it was built, slowly and with reserves to back the investment.

Maenad

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Re: What was old is new again with our economy?
« Reply #53 on: August 28, 2018, 07:49:06 AM »
It was amazing to see how everything that was happening leading up to the recession is happening again and being celebrated to boot.

Pick up A Random Walk Down Wall Street and read the section on bubbles. This happens over and over again, it's just human nature.

Imma

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Re: What was old is new again with our economy?
« Reply #54 on: August 28, 2018, 08:26:30 AM »
I was 18 in the last crisis and it severely affected me. I had a hard time finding temp jobs that gave me enough hours to pay my bills. I had a hard time paying tuition, so I quit school then started again some time later. My parents barely kept their jobs and my dad lost his house. It took me a good 5 years to find some stability in my life. We are in Europe economic recovery took very long, we experienced a triple-dip and of course the EURO-related political crisis.

Another 5 years later and my life is going pretty great. I was stubborn enough to not want to get into student debt. Although that would have made my life easier, and would have let me graduate earlier than I did, I'm glad I didn't. By working (nearly) fulltime I've built up a good resume and so far that seems to be a more important factor in my career than my degree has been. The degree offers some extra knowledge and a proof of intelligence, but my resume shows experience, character and grit. (of course that depends on your field).

My s/o was also affected by the recession, but not as much as I was. We've decided we never want to get into that kind of insecurity again. We bought a very cheap home a few years back with a low mortgage. Our mortgage payment is EUR 300, including food and health insurance we'd be able to live off EUR 1000/month if we had to. We keep about a year's worth of expenses in a savings account. I know that's a bit more than some people would recommend, and maybe it doesn't work out mathematically, but it gives us peace of mind. The rest of the money is in the market (80% stocks / 20% bonds) and we try to spread the risk globally.

Another thing I do to lower the risk of running into problems in the next recession is to have a very broad skillset that I keep up to date. I've recently also started a side hustle and I make sure to get any qualifications / certifications I can get. I try to gain a new skill / new knowledge every year. This way I keep myself valuable to customers and employers.

 

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