The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[D_Eclipse9916]

Great project! Even better that the kid was involved; mine got more in the way but it was fun. Those T25 screws are a god send compared to phillips.

R

Are you adding a hand rail for building code?

[Steve85]

Great project! Even better that the kid was involved; mine got more in the way but it was fun. Those T25 screws are a god send compared to phillips.

R

Are you adding a hand rail for building code?

Haha, it wasn't that long ago they would be more "in the way" than helping. He really wanted to help and learn so that was a plus. I never wanted to help so I was probably a little shit when dad would make me help with stuff.

Handrail will be added at the behest of my wife next time her mom comes to visit so she can get down the steps. Building code compliance will be a side benefit.

[GTBrandon]

So I have the idea running through my head:

Get out of college, and start building assets as early as I can. Forget the fancy cars and bars every weekend, let me put money into something that will pay me back 20 years down the line. 

I am looking around at prices and homes, and thinking maybe buying in the Alexandria, Arlington, or Falls Church area would be the right move. I want a property Ashburn-esque, meaning the neighborhoods, schools, etc will keep expanding even if that's not for another 5 to 10 years out. I have no real price in mind yet, but I wanted to get your advice.

1) Going in on this with someone else. Finding someone who can also put down money on a downpayment means we can pay less interest, potentially get a more expensive property, split costs of any repairs, and split monthly mortgage. But it also means splitting the profits, and the decision making for repairs, tenants, etc.. We already briefly talked about buying with a high downpayment (30% of value), but I'm sure there might be a lot of headaches when doing this with another person.

2) Buying a fixer-upper or getting something that's already in good condition. I've had my fair share of binging HGTV, and seeing what's possible with renovations. But I don't have the knowledge to look at a house and estimate the cost to renovate a certain part of it. Do any of you have experience with this, and can speak to whether it makes more sense to buy a house that is already good to go for the most part, or getting one that needs a little TLC.

3) Getting my VA real estate license. This seems fairly quick, easy, and cheap. For a summer's worth of spare time, and around $300 I could have my license to buy/sell, seemingly eliminating the fees on my end at least. This 2% could be $8k saved, so I don't see why not. The only thing brought up by Jay was that the real estate agents can help you from buying a mistake house, something I couldn't necessarily do but would hope to do with ample research and inspections.

4) What to expect in monthly costs. Are there any good programs/websites you use to estimate the monthly costs of buying a house. I'm quickly realizing there is a lot more to consider other than the purchase price and percentage rate. Things like HOA, property taxes, etc that will be billed monthly. What is your rule of thumb? Not to have all of these costs combined go over 30% of your gross monthly income?

5) How did you decide on where you wanted to buy a house? Did you look at city plans for the next 10-15 years of highways, shopping centers, zoning plans, etc? What are some key considerations for your neighborhood and proximity to certain landmarks like metros, beltways, etc.

6) Tax heavens to look into for home ownership as well as mortgage payments. I'm sure there are things for first time home buyers, and many little ways to save money here and there.

Here's something I found in my 5 minutes on Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3215-...2087_zpid/
Seems like one where the neighborhood might be something that holds the price back in the long-run. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong though?

[JPolen01]

I would never buy a house with a friend. I have a couple of friends that did that and it was a nightmare. From one that never paid the utilities on time to the other than never ponied up his share of the mortgage on time. That is a quick way to throw a friendship down the toilet IMO.

You seem fairly handy car wise so you can probably pick up house renovation/repairs rather quickly. Do you want to though? When we moved in our kitchen reno, which was really just staining the cabinets, new counters, and backsplash took a few solid weekends. When I finished the bedroom in my basement that was a solid 4-5 weekends. 8-10 hour days Saturday and Sunday. Do you want to spend your time this way?

We picked where we wanted to live based on our families, schools, commute to work, and obviously our budget. We weren't too concerned with possible infrastructure upgrades or development because it isn't our forever home. And who is to say what is going to happen in 5-10 years? Could you have predicted Amazon was coming to Crystal City? I'm not saying don't research what is coming down the pike, but I don't think much weight needs to be put on looking 5-10 years down the road.

When you are looking at listings on Zillow/Realtor/Redfin they usually tell you the HOA cost and property taxes. You can also look up property tax records through the state. Whoever the utility company is should be able to provide an estimated monthly utility cost based on the property address.

[JustinG]

#1 - no

#2 - if you want to live in a construction zone the entire time.

#5 -

House #1 - Affordability, location, distance to work

House #2 - Affordability, neighborhood demographics, schools

[Sijray21]

So I have the idea running through my head:

Get out of college, and start building assets as early as I can. Forget the fancy cars and bars every weekend, let me put money into something that will pay me back 20 years down the line. 

I am looking around at prices and homes, and thinking maybe buying in the Alexandria, Arlington, or Falls Church area would be the right move. I want a property Ashburn-esque, meaning the neighborhoods, schools, etc will keep expanding even if that's not for another 5 to 10 years out. I have no real price in mind yet, but I wanted to get your advice.

1) Going in on this with someone else. Finding someone who can also put down money on a downpayment means we can pay less interest, potentially get a more expensive property, split costs of any repairs, and split monthly mortgage. But it also means splitting the profits, and the decision making for repairs, tenants, etc.. We already briefly talked about buying with a high downpayment (30% of value), but I'm sure there might be a lot of headaches when doing this with another person.

2) Buying a fixer-upper or getting something that's already in good condition. I've had my fair share of binging HGTV, and seeing what's possible with renovations. But I don't have the knowledge to look at a house and estimate the cost to renovate a certain part of it. Do any of you have experience with this, and can speak to whether it makes more sense to buy a house that is already good to go for the most part, or getting one that needs a little TLC.

3) Getting my VA real estate license. This seems fairly quick, easy, and cheap. For a summer's worth of spare time, and around $300 I could have my license to buy/sell, seemingly eliminating the fees on my end at least. This 2% could be $8k saved, so I don't see why not. The only thing brought up by Jay was that the real estate agents can help you from buying a mistake house, something I couldn't necessarily do but would hope to do with ample research and inspections.

4) What to expect in monthly costs. Are there any good programs/websites you use to estimate the monthly costs of buying a house. I'm quickly realizing there is a lot more to consider other than the purchase price and percentage rate. Things like HOA, property taxes, etc that will be billed monthly. What is your rule of thumb? Not to have all of these costs combined go over 30% of your gross monthly income?

5) How did you decide on where you wanted to buy a house? Did you look at city plans for the next 10-15 years of highways, shopping centers, zoning plans, etc? What are some key considerations for your neighborhood and proximity to certain landmarks like metros, beltways, etc.

6) Tax heavens to look into for home ownership as well as mortgage payments. I'm sure there are things for first time home buyers, and many little ways to save money here and there.

Here's something I found in my 5 minutes on Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3215-...2087_zpid/
Seems like one where the neighborhood might be something that holds the price back in the long-run. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong though?

1) be really careful with that one... you could wind up paying a lot of legal fees if things go poorly (and they likely will over time). i wouldn't want to do this and even some people who are married don't do this for the risk of future divorce and it being a mess. tread VERY carefully here.

2) a fixer upper is a great way to get equity early. a buddy of mine bought a house 5 years after college after he was able to save for a good downpayment, fixed up his foreclosed former squatter-home, and made a good amount of equity. he also had a father-in-law who was a contractor and was a former real-estate agent. it's a lot of work and it won't be worth it unless you're really doing all/most of it yourself. there are some things you won't be able to do yourself (foundation repair, water laterals, sewage lines, etc.) and they cost a TON. stick by the motto, "buy the worst looking house in a nice neighborhood" and you could be ok here.

3) i'd avoid this unless you actually want to sell homes or are just interested in real-estate. RedFin agent fees are pretty cheap (1%) and you probably want a good agent for your first home as there is a lot of risk and you'll likely not have a lot of money to cover significant repair costs if you encounter them (unless you have family help). I had a NWFCU promotion where if i attended one of their free classes for buying a home i could use their home-buying program and only pay 1.5% as a buyer agent fee (3% at close, but a check reimbursement for half of that). Check for these types of promotions and offers.

4) It may not seem like it when you crunch the numbers, but 30% gross is really cutting a thin line, IMO. My current mortgage is about 16% to 20% of my take-home pay and i feel that's fairly comfortable. My first mortgage felt tight and that was close to 30% of my take-home pay. i also have no other debts (no student loans, no car loans). That allows me to save, still spend on nice things, vacation, and cover most expenses without worrying about other things. I still don't invest yet (i don't consider contributing to an IRA investing), but that'll be on the table soon. Other home costs: utilities (electric, water, sewage, internet/tv), hoa, taxes (could add hundreds of $ per month based on the assessed value each year), repairs, appliances, renovations, furniture, outdoor care, supplies (toiletries, cleaning supplies, tools, etc.).

5) i decided to buy because i didn't want to be forced to move every year, else paying about 10-15% more per year due to landlord lease increases; i wanted stability as i moved 8 times in my first 7 years after college. I rented a Townhouse with friends and i was walking distance to work; i miss that. I only put 5% down on a standard mortgage because i asked the loan officer since i had good credit (820+) this was not an offer they publicized. I was engaged when i bought the house, but i bought the house based on ONLY my income at the time. My wife and I did look at future expansion, but by the time we were looking the home prices were already reflecting the silver line metro expansion. we bought in 2012 when the market was about the lowest it's been in a decade, which was another factor in wanting to buy. Interest rates were low (although they dropped more from 2012 to 2014 when the forecast projected rates to rise a bit at the end of that range). Proximity to the W&OD trail and various avenues to get places without using I-66 was a goal. The tech expansion west toward Leesburg was also a factor. A home in a heavy residential area, Fairfax County Public Schools, and with a 2-car garage was a goal as well; we got all of those. The other Goal was to stay under $350k, but we settled for slightly more at $365k. We still have more house than we need, but we really like it now and have grown into it nicely. Refinanced 2 years ago to get out of paying PMI, to add my wife to the mortgage and property paperwork, and to reduce our monthly payment to make things more comfortable with kid expenses anticipated. We've also put in quite a bit in repairs, renovations, and other maintenance items. i almost forgot to mention. We looked for a home that wasn't renovated, but was move-in ready. We wanted to do renovations later down the road when we had money saved to make it our own and also raise the value of the home. We hired out the full kitchen reno 2 years ago and hired out the conversion of our screened-in back porch into an enclosed sunroom (extra room, essentially adding 250-sq*ft) with the money we saved and will tackle the bathrooms next. Loan to value went from 95% to approximately 62% in 7 years; i'm happy with that.

6) i'll let other tackle this one, but i didn't heavily factor the tax shelter from interest.

[.RJ]

I am looking around at prices and homes, and thinking maybe buying in the Alexandria, Arlington, or Falls Church area would be the right move. I want a property Ashburn-esque, meaning the neighborhoods, schools, etc will keep expanding even if that's not for another 5 to 10 years out. I have no real price in mind yet, but I wanted to get your advice.

1) Going in on this with someone else. Finding someone who can also put down money on a downpayment means we can pay less interest, potentially get a more expensive property, split costs of any repairs, and split monthly mortgage. But it also means splitting the profits, and the decision making for repairs, tenants, etc.. We already briefly talked about buying with a high downpayment (30% of value), but I'm sure there might be a lot of headaches when doing this with another person.

2) Buying a fixer-upper or getting something that's already in good condition. I've had my fair share of binging HGTV, and seeing what's possible with renovations. But I don't have the knowledge to look at a house and estimate the cost to renovate a certain part of it. Do any of you have experience with this, and can speak to whether it makes more sense to buy a house that is already good to go for the most part, or getting one that needs a little TLC.

3) Getting my VA real estate license. This seems fairly quick, easy, and cheap. For a summer's worth of spare time, and around $300 I could have my license to buy/sell, seemingly eliminating the fees on my end at least. This 2% could be $8k saved, so I don't see why not. The only thing brought up by Jay was that the real estate agents can help you from buying a mistake house, something I couldn't necessarily do but would hope to do with ample research and inspections.

4) What to expect in monthly costs. Are there any good programs/websites you use to estimate the monthly costs of buying a house. I'm quickly realizing there is a lot more to consider other than the purchase price and percentage rate. Things like HOA, property taxes, etc that will be billed monthly. What is your rule of thumb? Not to have all of these costs combined go over 30% of your gross monthly income?

5) How did you decide on where you wanted to buy a house? Did you look at city plans for the next 10-15 years of highways, shopping centers, zoning plans, etc? What are some key considerations for your neighborhood and proximity to certain landmarks like metros, beltways, etc.

6) Tax heavens to look into for home ownership as well as mortgage payments. I'm sure there are things for first time home buyers, and many little ways to save money here and there.

1) do not buy a house with a friend unless you form a real business partnership/LLC to own the houses.  Even then I would not recommend it.

2) every home project costs at least twice as much and takes twice as long as you think it should.  And labor rates for trades people are through the roof in northern VA - plumbers get $200-250/hr, electricians even more.  Dont even ask about structural engineers.  Yes you can DIY stuff, but are you going to do this while working a day job while paying the mortgage and taxes on an empty house?  The TV stuff really romanticizes home renovation and its totally bullshit - the guys on the show are working 3 shifts to get it done and zero fucks given about real quality of the work.  I just contracted out a gut & remodel of my whole main level, buy me a beer and i'll convince you never to do this for a rental property.  

3) if you want this to be your career, then sure, get the license.  You can make flips work in this area but you need to be buying at short sale/auctions and be your own GC on projects and have the license.  

4) you gonna pay county property tax, HOA fees, sometimes city tax (falls church, herndon, alexandria).  Then there's maintenance.  And exploding hot water heaters.  And property management fees if you go that route.  It adds up.  

5) you gotta decide whats important to you - location, amenities, activities, commute, services, etc...  that said you can rent just about anything anywhere thats a desirable location.  The going rate for military reimbursement is $2700/mo, FWIW.

6) your points and your interest are deductible on your personal taxes for your primary home.  once you get into rentals and if you are forming an LLC to protect your ass then the equation changes.  There are lots of first time buyer programs where you can get in with 3-5% down payment but these are for your primary home.  If you are looking at multiple properties then those things arent available and you're going to need more money down.  

General rule of thumb for real estate investment is that you want to be getting 1% of your purchase price in rent every month if you want it to be an income generating property, which is going to be a really tough stretch in the northern va area to find something that fits.

If you want to live in a van and roam around with some properties generating some income for food & internet bills then great but you'll still need capital to buy in and get them rented.  If your plan is to just have a day job and you have the capital to put in, then run some math on what the long term index fund investment of your capital and see what it looks like in 30 years, and you dont have to be its landlord.  May or may not be a better use of your money.

My $.02.

[D_Eclipse9916]

1) dumb da dumb dumb dumb!

2) For safe/reasonable gains, a house that hasn't been too updated in a nice neighborhood, good schools; and with a floor plan generous to families.  Since many americans choose the starting of a family to buy a house; any house that is a good family house will see fair appreciation vs one that has a mini 2nd bedroom.  At this point I would avoid anything that isn't 3 bedroom, multi-bath.  It's a limited market, unless you plan to rent.  You *could* get lucky but its far riskier.

3) I am not akin to the legal ramifications, but as far as I know; you also need to be linked to a brokerage; split commissions with your brokerage or pay fees.  You also need to keep up with your license as an ongoing fee.  One house, not worth it.

4) People already harped on this; and don't let increasing taxes/homeowners insurance/HOA fees catch you in a bind.  

5) All the above and as I alluded to before, schools for families.  Areas with bad schools struggle to get out of their own depressed areas.  Good schools = higher earning families moving in = higher property values.  You won't see an influx of high income earners with families moving to bad schools.  You want higher returns?  Seeking out areas with already high growth means that value is already built in and you won't see significant increase long term yourself. 

For Example: Many were fooled in Reston buying there thinking with the Metro coming it would help; but it was already built into the price of the homes ever since it was a high possibility.  Prices didn't rise once Metro was finished.

6) All depends on your own income and marital status, for me it was a wash between itemizing and standard deductions because of SALT Limitations.  This erases some of the value of having a mortgage, starting to weigh in on the value proposition.  Since you will be living there at least a couple years it sounds like; you are already built in to have your $250k of equity deduction, so again; no huge loopholes to be found.

Your example is high renovated, at the top of the neighborhood for $ per sq/ft; and is in a horrible school district.  It also is fairly small; limiting your resale opportunity.  It's not all bad news though.  Freshly renovated with a $400k asking price in a transitional neighborhood where the "asking" rent is fairly high indicates to me a good rental case may be made.  However this is where you need a real estate agent to provide real comps and giving a real monthly rental expectation.  You would also have to be fairly involved in finding and keeping up with tenants as most would be there for just a year due to the area/neighborhood.

[ScottyB]

You can make flips work in this area but you need to be buying at short sale/auctions and be your own GC on projects and have the license.  

i have a good friend up there in DC who flips places for a living and does very, very well.

but.

he started out with a successful career for a couple years at booz, focused only on that.

and his father in law is a big time GC in roanoke and taught him the ropes + bought in with some startup money.

and his wife is a successful realtor, and knows what properties to have an eye on the second they hit the market.

if it was just him, single man or with no connections, that whole operation would have taken far longer to be successful....if at all. and its tough work, you've gotta make staying on top of your subcontractors a day job for that to work.

you really gotta WANT to come home from work, and then go back to work again...on your own place that you're trying to live and relax in.

frankly, i think you'd make more money by living in a shop building and buying, restoring, and flipping E36 M3's and Z coupes.

[JPolen01]

^Ask your buddy how many times he's lost his ass though.

I don't think Brandon is really looking to flip, more to buy a fixer upper and fix it while living there and rent it later. I still vote against this. Living in a construction zone is hell.

[HAULN-SS]

I think if you want to buy a house, you should buy a house. Then, to ease the financial burden, rent a room or two out and have a roommate. You'll probably get annoyed AF by the annoying things renters do, in a house that you own, but it could work out if you choose wisely the tenants and remember that they're helping you pay down a place.

If you want to invest in real estate, take whatever money you have leftover and throw it in a REIT. Unless you're going to get into flipping full time, everything else you listed is probably a waste of time. Successful flippers start with a bag full of cash so they can buy places without a mortgage. Almost 100% of your first month's mortgage payment is going to interest = subtracting from your profit margin directly. It only gets slightly better for the first 10 years of owning a place. There's a reason those flippers want to get done as soon as possible.

And lastly - you're basically looking to buy at damn near top of the market. I don't know if anyone can predict when the next downturn will be, but almost everywhere prices are up substantially YoY. I think you might be better of waiting until there's at least a slight correction in the market. If youre concerned about "missing the bottom" while waiting that out, take all your spare money and put it in a Vanguard ETF or something else with a decent return.

[GTBrandon]

So first just to address this, the house will not be a rental property immediately. It will be lived in for at LEAST 3-5 years before I decide to start renting it/selling it. That will allow me time to pay a good amount off (High down payment + high monthly payments on the mortgage). Plus renting out rooms to friends while I'm living there as if we were all renting together.

So sounds like a couple of things,

If I want to buy in with another person, to double the downpayment, then maybe forming an LLC is the smartest. Then it starts looking like tax codes for LLCs might be an area to look at, anything about deducting property losses/interest. I'm going to start an LLC in the next few weeks and try out property management, just to see what my taxes will be like in 2020. Then I'll know for sure how to file on my own, all the exceptions, and if I still think it's a good idea to buy a house like that. 

Maybe buying something that needs a little freshening up here and there. I really don't want to spend all my weekends doing this house DIY. But I'll put in a good amount of work with the goal in mind of having the house stage-ready on a budget. If the house seems like it needs a lot of work, get a contractor to estimate on a second walkthrough, then double the price. But look for open floor plans that can be easily customized/modified in the future to fit demands. That seems like it will add value as the house becomes desirable to more types of families/people. 

Getting the license probably isn't worth the time and effort, especially with knowing some realtors myself. Didn't realize there are little "sales" that allow you to reduce this cost significantly. I might look into it still if anything just to get the knowledge of the real estate market. Hell, may even find a class at JMU about it. 

Make the cost of the monthly bill with all included, less than 30% take home rather than gross. That will let me build up a larger liquid savings account for any home repairs. 

I did an investment calculator on putting 30k down, then $1,500 (monthly mortgage estimate) per month for 20years, and at 8% compounded annually. This would get me $1,000,000 by the time I was 42. So..I need to do some math and see if this house situation would pay off as well. May not be fair to assume though because if I wasn't paying $1,500 to the mortgage, then it would go to rent and therefore couldn't be saved in this hypothetical million dollar IRA.

Question though: Even if you have the option to do a 5% downpayment, wouldn't you want to put as much as possible down to avoid paying interest on the amount financed? Or am I missing something? My thought process is put as much down as possible while still keeping enough of a saftey net (6-9months of income at least), so that you can pay less interest and therefore pay off the loan quicker. 

Also, what are y'all's opinion on where the overall market is headed? I do worry it's nearing the top again, and don't want to buy right before a major drop. But I also don't want to pay rent for 1-3 years while I wait for the market to adjust, because that loss might be the same as the new lower price of the house.

[.RJ]

If you want to live in it, dont buy it with another person and the bank is sure as hell not going to lend you money as a first time home buyer DBA LLC....

If you can come up with 3% down to qualify for FHA first time home buyer AND you have job/income AND you want to live there 3-5 years while renting out extra rooms.... could be a smart move. Just make sure if something comes up and you want to leave that you can rent it out for some number that gives you some cushion over the house note to cover incidentals/repairs/etc, but be aware that if you're a landlord and say... the a/c goes tits up... you could be on the hook for an $8k HVAC system. Or a new roof. Or your basement floods. Or.... any number of things.

[HAULN-SS]

. you could be on the hook for an $8k HVAC system.  Or a new roof.  Or your basement floods.  Or.... any number of things.

Case in point my rental house just had the tenants lodge a maintenance request for the AC not cutting on this weekend. Nice. Sucks for them. I had already replaced the evaporator or some other part 5 years ago. Probably going to end up in the hook to do the whole thing even though it's only 12 years old..F.

This is on top of about another $2500 in assorted maintenance i am currently doing...profit for the year is probably damn near zero on this by the time it is all said and done..good thing the house itself is cheap.

[JPolen01]

 I'm going to start an LLC in the next few weeks and try out property management, just to see what my taxes will be like in 2020. 

What does this even mean? Do you have a property to manage? 

Shop lenders for your mortgage. Don't just go with the bank that your realtor suggests. There are a lot more loan options these days than there were 5 or 10 years ago. I have seen non-FHA options where you can put 10% or less down. FHA loans typically come with huge insurances rolled into them. People are paying $200, $300, $400 in loan insurance on FHA loans due the housing crash in 2008.

[.RJ]

There are a lot more loan options these days than there were 5 or 10 years ago.

True story with this one. My credit union said they can even do 0% down loans, although the rate shifts up as the down payment goes down. My last two loans were 2/2 ARM & 5/1 ARM, both with no PMI and 10% down.

I didnt know the FHA loans had a bunch of insurance tacked on to it.... if thats the case it may not be a good trade?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Good luck getting a loan on a new LLC that’s even worth it.

A good rental contract and a $3-5M umbrella policy is more cost effective at this point in your life. My uncle had ~22 rental properties without an LLC. Insurance doesn’t want to pay out and will fight anything (including you which is why an ironclad rental is good). Also force your tenants to have minimum rentals insurance; this will also discourage against silly claims.

PS- an LLC without insurance means you have to fight your own fight. Plus if they can prove negligence your LLC is worthless as they can still come after you personally.

[CaptainHenreh]

Also, what are y'all's opinion on where the overall market is headed? I do worry it's nearing the top again, and don't want to buy right before a major drop. But I also don't want to pay rent for 1-3 years while I wait for the market to adjust, because that loss might be the same as the new lower price of the house.

Firstly, and please don't take this as an insult, but I think your idea is a bad one. Literally every thing you said is bad, especially for literally one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. Relax. Pay rent. Save money. Buy a townhouse on foreclosure.

As for the market...yeah I think we're pretty close to a top, but it's going to depend a TON on the next, say, 3-4 years. Will the economy keep going? Will unemployment stay low? Will CHEETUS get re-elected? Will China actually decide to have a sane monetary policy? Will we elect an old New England commie for president? 

I think it's an expensive time to buy, and you're literally betting your future livelihood on 'Sky's the limit, baby!' 

I think it's unwise.

[GTBrandon]

Come up with 3%? I planned on coming up with 20% to avoid borrowing money/paying interest on the money I already have. Don't see why a bank wouldn't give me a loan with such a big down payment plus a good credit history of nearly 800. Am I wrong, and they'll just look at my age and say hell no?

As for the AC bill and misc. maintenance, yeah that sucks. But also, that will mean 0 profit this year, but hopefully no similar cost for the next 10 years. Just like the market, I don't see why you should discount an entire investment for one bad year if the rest of the years make up for that loss.

I have a property to manage here in Ashburn, the one we moved out of and are now renting out to tenants.



What do you mean by a good rental contract and umbrella policy?

I think it might be unwise to think the market will keep going in the same direction it has been post-2008. So I'm curious to watch it over this next year.

[JPolen01]

Hang on - you are going to have $80k when you graduate college to use as a down payment (using your $400k house as an example)? Am I missing something?