I am selling a home. Shuld I pay off all my credit cards or invest the money?
494681
I tend to agree with the majority.  Mostly.\n\nThink of it this way.  If your credit card is charging you 19% interest, then paying off the card is a guaranteed investment with a 19% return.  You can't get returns like that in the stock market, and especially not with a guarantee!\n\nOn the other hand, if this is all the money you have, it might be bad to have no assets left for emergencies.  Perhaps investing a small amount of your proceeds would be good for you.  If some of your credit cards are on 8% interest, for example, you might be able to do better by investing.  And ultimately, you'll need to have an investment plan for the future anyway.  But these aren't the only issues.\n\nThe bigger issue, regardless of what approach you take with the windfall, is how your budget is working.  If you've been seeing your credit card balances rising for years, you need to address that issue first.  Otherwise, paying off the cards will only be a temporary fix.  Check into some reputable organizations that can provide advice for your budget woes.\n\nBest of luck to you.
990612
Was that house ever your principal residence in the last 5 years, for 2 years or more?  You get a huge tax savings if it was.  You really need to talk to either a good real estate person or an attorney/CPA and find out the tax consequences.  If it was your principal residence, you do not pay capital gains on the profit you make on the house.  If it wasn't your principal residence for 2 of the last 5 years, you do have to pay profit on the sale.  It can be complicated, you need advice from someone in your area, not a bunch of strangers off the internet.  Good luck!
1151881
I would not sell unless there were great reasons for me to do so. I would still purchase investment properties. This is an excellent way of earning a living as well as gaining wealth.\n\nif you can refi at 50%-60% LTV or less and still have a positive for additional purchases that is a good strategy \n\nI would diversify my investment by investing in 2nd trust deeds and equity loans. The interest rates are about 10%-12%. \n\nYou can do the collection or hire someone to do the collection. There are computer programs available for you to purchase if you want to do the collection.\n\nThat way if the real estate market take  a swan dive for some reason you still have trust deeds that are earning money for you.\n\nI hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.\n\n"FIGHT ON"
1091650
The best option for you would be to find others with 30k to invest and see about setting up a REIT (real estate investment trust). Think about it, get 10 people together and now you've got 300k to work with. At that point, you can put the money down on a strip mall, apt complex, etc... Commercial real estate is very lucrative and often you will walk in cash positive. In fact, you can't buy the place (conventionally) unless you are cash positive. You get to see the previous owners 3yrs of financial records to tell you if it's going to yeild you a return or not and so on.
946181
Depends on the state you are in. Check with your bank first. They might be willing to do it. Most lenders won't want to mess with that. A land/home package would be better and get you a better interest rate.
927329
Taxes due would depend on what you sell it for.  The privacy fence and storage shed would be added to the cost of the house.  The cosmetic repairs would not be.  So you have $127K into it.  The difference between that and what you sell it for (net - you get to subtract items like realtor's commissions that you pay) is your gain.  \n\nFebruary isn't far off, so hanging in there until then makes sense.  Staying a year would make your gain long-term.  You're probably in the 15% bracket, which would mean your long term capital gain would have 5% tax applied.  So if, for example, you sold your home for $150K and paid real estate commission of $9000, you'd have a gain of $150K - $127K - $9K, or $14,000, and your tax on that would probably be $700, which isn't all that bad if you really hate it there.\n\nYou'd have to stay two full years to avoid capital gains taxes at all, and doesn't sound like you want to do that.  There is a little bit of an out here - if you move to a different area and can legitimately claim that the move was due to taking a new job, you can exclude some of the gain - basically, if you lived there a full year, you could exclude half of the gain, and just pay tax on the other half.  But if you're retired, you don't have that option.\n\nWhat you still owe, and what it is or was appraised at, make no difference to the taxes you'll pay.\n\nGood luck on selling your house quickly and at a good price.
164313
Definitely! I payed my house off in 8 years by just paying a little over my monthly payment each month. All went to the principle. So before I knew it. VOILA......the house was payed for. It was the most amazing feeling knowing there was no debt!! Yes, pay off your home. You feel free! :)
1013583
your debt to income and debt to asset ratios are going to be quite high and as such, the pricing you would get on a loan would be higher than you would like to pay. best thing is to pay off the 20% and build equity in your house that you can either leverage or use to buy into another property. also, your LTV on an investment prop would be about 75%, which means that you need to come to the table with at least 25% of the purchase price plus CC.
337145
I don't think you need anything creative here.  Do a normal refinance with cash out.  She pays you off and does a reverse mortgage (or whatever) 2 years later.  Nothing special about this.
769801
Sure you can... talk to a discount broker. You can also throw your money into your trash can for faster results.
708117
Great that you are planning such a wise investment path. I started exactly the same way many years ago. And I'm doing quite well now. My advise to you is go ahead and buy that duplex building. But rent both sides out instead of living in one side. Find urself a cheaper bachelor's apartment to live in. Likely you can get more rent from one of ur duplex than it cost you to rent a bachelor's. You will make more money each month because of the difference. \nYou may say that you only make $30,000 a yr.. but don't forget that when you go to the bank with a proposition to buy and rent the entire building out.. ur yearly income as viewed by the bank is now much more coz they will factor in ur potential income from the duplexes. This allows u a greater debt/expense ratio. and allows you to buy more. \nThere are other good reasons too for not being too quick to move into one side..  income tax for example, because u are not living in the building.. the entire interest on the mortgage becomes an investment expense. Also, it's likely that where you live.. there are better tax advantages to showing u are also a renter. \nIn time, as you buy more and more buildings.. you will be able to choose a house of ur own. But for now, make the most of "all" ur money, live below ur means.. and invest invest invest. \nImportant concepts to understand, balance and use to their most potential are; Ur networth, total assets, debt service ratio and income (both present and potential) debt service ratio is usually the most common limiting factor. ( and keep a watchful eye on interest rates) and know ur local realestate trends and be ur own best forcaster of future trends. As they say, "buy low, sell high"\nCoz in the end, most of ur money will be made on capital gain rather than rental income. ( rental income simlpy facilitates debt expense requirements from lenders )\nChoose a good banking agent.\nAs a realestate investor, ur bank becomes ur greatest partner. Choose an agent that has confidence in you, is knoledgable about realestate and is not afraid to stick his/ her neck out for you.\nBest of luck to you.
41577
As little as possible is often the most popular idea. However, it is wise to put down enough to make sure the property income will service the debt payments and taxes. You don't want to be paying out of pocket evey month unless you really need the loss for tax purposes. \n\nMost banks or savings and loans will require between 20 and 30 percent down payment in the US. The lenders are looking for the property to break-even or have some positive cash flow based on their projections income and expenses. The appraiser is often asked to make these estimates. However, I have purchased investment property with nothing but closing costs out of pocket using hard money lenders. I've even borrowed more than the purchase price when the appraised value was much higher than the purchase price. I have also run across some credit unions that loaned 100% for borrowers who had a good track record with the credit union. It's all in the deal.
1070480
That isn't going to be easy.  Most places do a credit check.  There are ways with good credit to buy with no money down.  An individual might sell you real estate that way, but it isn't a wise way to do business.
60080
If you have the cash and available credit, buy one home with the cash and put your availble credit towards a rental property, which will eventually pay for itself. Just a thought. :)
75108
Sell everything that you own.  Hopefully that comes out to $100,000.
489200
The good of what your trying to do is consolidate debt which typically reduces your monthly cash outlay but may also include additional tax savings for you at the end of the year since you normally can write off mortgage interest but not interest on vehicle loans and credit cards.\n\nThe bad is you will be adding to the debt burden on your home and possibly extending the amount of time required to pay off that debt. \n\nYour 3 options really are refinance all of your debt into one new loan assuming that your equity in the property is high enough to allow this without adding mortgage insurance, take out a home equity loan (2nd mortgage) and pay off your debt with these funds or three open a home equity line of credit (2nd mortgage) and pay off the debts. \n\nDepending on what type of loan you currently have refinancing everything into one loan usually makes the most sense since you will have a much lower interest rate on a loan in first lien position than any type of second mortgage. However if your current loan has a really low fixed interest rate then it may be in your best interest to do either a home equity loan or a HELOC... Basically at the end of the day you need to look at all three options and figure which has the lowest monthly cash outlay and go with that... Your loan officer or mortgage professional should walk you through the numbers, present the products (good/bad of each), give you their opinion and then let you make your choice based on what is right for you.\n\nI am a loan officer so I slant towards using a broker versus a single specific lender or bank. I beleive in the broker transaction for a few simple reasons; we run your credit one time and then shop your loan to multiple lenders. If you do this every bank will want to run your credit which will most likely lower your FICO score. Secondly shopping your scenario takes time. We know who to call and what the lender is looking for to give us a good solid quote; not that you can not but I bet you have your own carreer to work on M-F... This is what we do for a living. Lastly we know which lenders programs are geared more towards your specific scenario. \n\nI would stay away from companies like lending tree etc unless you really read the fine print and are fine with them selling your 'lead' to every mortgage person under the sun who will then run your credit report prior to speaking to you thus lowering your scores. I have called on these leads before and have been told I was the 20th person to call that day! In reality find someone you are comfortible with and trust. Ask a family member or friend who they have used in the past and if they would either use that person/company again... \n\nIf you have any questions please feel free to contact me anytime at Kruorock@firstratelending.com or 866-562-6838 x 106.\n\nGood Luck!\n\nKevin
654122
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