Get Out of Debt Blog – Month 4

If you haven’t been following my quest to get out of a half million dollars in debt, I suggest you begin with My Journey to Payoff half a million in debt or check the Get out of Debt Blog master page.

Last month I talked a lot about getting my wife on board and suggested she read Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover”, but she has yet to and the spending continues.  To make matters worse, our rental property is showing its money eating teeth.  I currently have a vacancy and am in the process of evicting another tenant.  Therefore, only 50% of the building is rented out and paying.  I often ask myself if buying a rental property is worth it.  Maybe I’ll write something later on my disastrous attempt at being a landlord, but in short…I’ve had 5 evictions, over $10,000 in lost rents, forced to invest $30,000 worth of building repairs, and have probably had 3 years worth of at least one unit being vacant during the 5 years of ownership.  

We at 3B Properties have chosen a great real estate inspector that has saved us thousands of dollars finding building’s misfortune.  When we look at prospective investment properties, we’re crunching numbers and calculating rental income or flipping profits, but hardly ever look under the rug.   Usually we’ll have reason to reduce the purchase price by thousands or require the seller to pump thousands into repairs.  Once an offer is accepted, it is hard for the seller to back off from your requests especially when given a professional inspection report.  Finding your own home inspector to evaluate the condition of a property before you buy it is crucial. You wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a test drive, so why would you buy a home without checking it out?  A little money spent up front can save big bucks down the line. Latent defects are costly and often unseen to the untrained eye.