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Making The Investment Leap

July 6, 2022 We’ve mentioned the rental property we recently invested in as being the catalyst on our Project Money journey and thought we should provide a bit of context as to why we made the leap to investing in real estate, how we did it and what knowledge we are hoping to add from this journey.The Why:  The rental property is a duplex in Menomonie, WI, which happens to be my hometown (and where Robin and I went to college). I have had exposure to real estate development/management, starting in college where I minored in Property Management and worked part-time at a few real estate management and development companies, and then upon graduation where I worked for a national real estate management firm for a time. So, with that experience I was interested in an opportunity to build value for our family’s financial future, and I would like to think it gave me a realistic expectation of what the benefits and pitfalls of real estate investing could entail. Also, part of the story, the duplex was owned by my father and uncle (whom I called my landlords in college) and as I began my career, I had let them know I may be interested if they ever wanted to sell.  Fast forward about a decade, and I received a call that my uncle was interested in selling his portion and wanted to know if I was still interested. After a few conversations with Robin and doing some due diligence on the financials of the property we decided this was a leap we were interested in taking as a family.The How:  One of the initial hurdles we needed to overcome was the timeline. My uncle needed to complete this sale as part of a 1031 Exchange (tax benefit where the proceeds of an investment property can be reinvested in another without the capital gains being taxed) and had a very strict, and tight, timeline that we needed to achieve – it ended up being closing was needed about 30 days from when I initially got the call to see if I was interested. After those first few days of deliberations, I immediately began to call lenders to check terms, find out if we would be qualified, and see if they could meet the timeline. I must have called about a dozen institutions, both credit unions and banks in the Menomonie and Madison area. Most of the responses I got were that the timeline was not possible for them, and that the appraisal of the property would take too long. The others that could meet the timeline were offering high rates and shorter terms than what we were interested in. Then along came Summit Credit Union to save the day (shout out to Ed at the Beaver Dam branch for helping us out) who offered a great rate and was able to squeeze us in to meet our timeline.The What:  Robin and I are hopeful that our journey through Project Money will help bring further clarity on how we should be prioritizing our debts and leveraging the income related to the investment property. How does this fit within our overall financial strategy and where can we make our money work the hardest for us? These are questions we look forward to reviewing with our Summit Financial Coach in the upcoming months. You might also be interested in As the year comes to a close, so does Season 14 of Project Money. In preparation for writing our final blog post we reflected over what has occurred over... In the last week we had to take Robin’s car, a 2019 VW Atlas, in for a couple of recall notices we had received. Nothing completely out of the ordinary... One of the topics we had mentioned in our posts from earlier this year was an employee stock purchase plan offered by Robin’s employer. We have never participated... Being part of Project Money has pushed our family to take a more active role in managing our finances, necessitating weekly conversations that have spurred... With Thanksgiving behind us, the countdown to Christmas has “officially” begin. This year, as part of our Project Money journey, we have been planning... I had been putting this off for a few weeks/months now, optimistic that Fall might stretch on a little bit longer – but this past week’s winter weather... Over the last few weeks, we have been working to refocus, and get back to some of the basics as we start to head into the end of year holiday season... Over the past few weeks and months, I had seen several news reports about I Bonds, usually with a corresponding endorsement of their attractiveness as... We have reached the point of the year where we have one foot firmly planted into heating season and thought we would reflect on what energy saving tips...
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