Realistically, when do you think you can retire?

No, I make too much. The interest rate is good though. I can make better returns with my money than my interest rate on my main house. I’m looking to pick up several more rentals

 

I'm retiring from the military in 13 days (age 39). Moving seamlessly right into another career with the intention of doing 20 more years and being completely done at 59. I may just keep[ on working though depending on my mindset at 59. I feel pretty good health wise and I like having a daily "task", contributing to the team.

I've taken a couple of periods consisting of 20 to 25 days vacation in the military and it was borderline miserable after about 10 days.... On day 20 I was walking in the door at work high-fiving and hugging mo'fo's.

 

My plan is 50. Just turned 37 and mortgage free. I don’t care what anyone says or how they justify it, there is no better feeling than owning a nice piece of land free and clear

 

I’m definitely jealous of some of you. No idea how some of you have so many houses. I can’t even afford one where I live.

My retirement plan is work until I can’t then find a state where I can euthanize myself.

 

For me it was moving to a small rural community with cheap land, low taxes and decent industry to make a living. A lot will depend on the lifestyle you want to live and sacrifices you’re willing to make to accomplish your goals

 

For me, it was being willing to sacrifice a ton and listen to my friends rag on me. I drove a 1996 Volvo from 2008 until 2015, and kept it alive. I bought a foreclosure, slowly renovated it one room at a time. I did a spare bedroom and hall bathroom first so I could rent out the room. I rented one or two rooms for years while renovating the rest of the house. I gave up so much but it’s paying off. I’m 32 and pretty damn close to paying off my first house and 95% of the mortgage payments have been made through renters paying me each month.

 

don't worry we're jealous of your truck!

 

i thought about this as well, but i'm not willing to let just anyone live with me.. plus it's nice to just do your own thing sometimes.

 

It absolutely is. And that was the sacrifice I did. Because I made that sacrifice, I was able to put a TON of $$$ into my retirement at a young age, and I was able to buy my rental and pay it down aggressively. Once my rental is paid off in the next 6 or whatever years, that’ll be a sweet $1300-1500 each month coming my way. That’s not massive money but that is enough change to make my life a bit better/easier.

But again, having roommates for so long was that huge sacrifice that I made to put myself in the position I’m in. So many people ask me how I was able to get where I’m at, at my age. And it’s funny...these same people will tell me “oh no, I could never do that. I need a newer car.” Or I don’t know how to work on things. Or I couldn’t live with a roommate. Or whatever. But then they still complain about where they’re at lmao. (Not saying you’re complaining)

 

how did you find your roommates, craigslist, friends of friends, facebook. the friends of friends honestly the most risky lol.

also on the rental rule i always think about the 1% rule and such like that. also 1300-1500 a month is amazing extra income.

 

Good for you guys!!

Killin it!!

I hope I’m in your guys’ shoes here soon!

 

Yea, there’s a lot more to it than the 1% rule but that’s definitely a good start. I was getting more than 1% of the purchase price in rent when I was renting out multiple rooms and I’m getting *slightly* less now that I’m no longer living there and I’m renting out the whole house to someone.

As far as roommates, I did a combination of hanging up ads on the Navy base next to my house and advertising on Craigslist. I changed the lock out to a digital lock and I set the code to the person last 4 of their cell phone. Then I’d tell them that I can’t show them the house because I’m super busy but I can meet them real quick at Starbucks. I meet them and scope them out. If they seem normal, I tell them just kidding, we can check it out now if you’re free. We then head back to the house and I show it to them. That way, I wasn’t giving some random person my home address.

Now that I’ve moved out and I’m renting it straight up, I still set the code (which is awesome btw....now you no longer have to change locks. Just change the code) but now I’m not meeting the people first. I run credit check that they pay for when they apply to rent the house and I take that fee off their first months rent if they decide to rent from me.

That being said, my current tenant has been in there for a solid 2.5 years with no plans of leaving any time soon. Which is awesome.

And no, don’t ever rent to friends.

 

Bought my house in 1994 paid cash . Fixer upper ! Have had 2 home equities over the years and paid both off ahead of schedule. Never had a mortgage . House is worth $180,000 more now then what I paid for it Forced to retire last year because of eye surgeries. Pushing for 57 years old !

 

Sorry to hear ,hope your doing well !

 

that's awesome, real solid advice. I don't think i could do roommates solely on the fact I have two German Shepherds and not really willing to let a roommate have an animal as well. lol

renting a room out of the house you live in is the best bang for buck, you get your homestead exemption and get paid for a room you're not using. Plus renting out a room is huge income, it's a small area for them at a large rate.

of course you were getting over 1% renting two rooms while living there in the third room. If only you could charge that much for a vacant house just sitting there.

for me I have a hard time picking a house for renting because, total price, mortgage rate, time empty. I can afford for the house to be empty and still make the mortgage payment, but that's not going to be favorable obviously. You don't want to overdue the mortgage period and % because that interest can't be counted on taxes. It's a risky business, there's no real loss to me as I could make the payment if I couldn't find a tenant. It's just a lot of things, I was writing down ideas on a notepad about this for a while about 3 months ago.

 

... property taxes ?

 

That’s the beauty of owning your own house though man...you can say “no dogs allowed” and tell them you have your two dogs and they aren’t allowed to have any. If they agree, great. If they don’t, they don’t have to rent from you.

Btw, check out biggerpockets.com. That’s an amazing website for this kinda thing. The forums are worth a read

 

Yes always will have property taxes unfortunately. Luckily its agriculture & timber land so taxes are reasonable

 

One day. Living where I live there isn’t too much left for savings.

Haha. There’s always that I guess. Good thing modifying a truck a solid investment.

 

Hey you are my age and sound just as savvy as I am. I suggest maybe doing even more and looking into purchasing a small business/company or something along those lines depending on what rules make sense in your area. I was dead set on the real estate idea and while it's solid and very do able, some smaller businesses are disgustingly lucrative. I was making 6 figures working my trade and cashing rental income and within a year and a half I almost tripled my income adding a business in my field (Sheet metal/HVAC). That's the kind of stuff I always tell people. When I say "do more" I don't mean go to the casino and blow money on blackjack. I mean take your knowledge and build on it. Every investing is the same basic idea. When you get it you just get it.
Good luck