Comments on: Sunday Gathering – Update on our rental house

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:31:51 +0000

It’s all good on renting your home out until you don’t have a renter or the renter doesn’t pay. One of those two WILL happen at some point and unless you’ve got the cash flow to sustain two house payments then I wouldn’t do it. Ideally having one of the two houses paid off would be best.

By: MLR

MLR — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:00:40 +0000

Weakonomics makes a great point. Often people rate chase with $10,000…. hardly worth it unless you are going from a .2% bank to a 4% bank, that makes sense.

I mentioned this on Four Pillars, but it is funny how both Moolanomy and I wrote on a few of the same topics in a course of a week. I also wrote a bit on roadside emergency kits that he links to from his article, so make sure to check it out readers!

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:19:42 +0000

I used to live in Waynesville, and since my mother still does I go there sometimes. It is a beautiful place, although career wise it didn’t work out for me, I often wish it did.

By: The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:01:01 +0000

I guess I’ll never understand the rate chasing on deposits. While it’s true you can find a better rate, unless you’re depositing $100k it’s hardly worth the time. Not just the time setting up the account, but the endless emails, mailings, and phone calls from yet another bank trying to get more business from you.

I don’t have time for that crap and if I ever had that much money to try so e kind of ladder I’d just invest it in a fixed income mutual fund. To each his own, but I look at rate chasing the way I look at making your own soap.

By: glblguy

glblguy — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:56:32 +0000

Great point Phil. Your absolutely correct, but my hope is that as the real estate market recovers over the next few years (and yes it will recover), that I’ll not only have continued to pay down my mortgage but continue to build up equity in a home that will be worth far more than I paid for it.

One other thing to consider is that the average time on market for a sale in our area is 6-months. I was able to get a tenant prior to that. Had I really wanted to sell, I am pretty sure that if I had waited a little longer it would have sold.

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:28:23 +0000

“The value on the home continues to rise as well, which is making it a great investment property too.”

Ummm… but there’s one little problem with that statement: you weren’t able to sell the house at the price you were asking for it. It’s only worth what a willing-and-able buyer will pay for it.

By: Marsha

Marsha — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:08:43 +0000

Thanks for the YNAB reminder – I just downloaded YNAB Pro. And thanks for the recommendation. I look forward to spending some time figuring out how to get back on the right track!

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:27:48 +0000

Glad to hear renting is working out. I had wondered myself if the house in Charlotte sold, so thanks for the update.

The Waynesville area is so beautiful. My grandparents once lived in Sylva, NC, and really enjoyed their time there in the Smokies. I shared a picture from your Flickr stream with my grandfather, now 83, and he was impressed by the views. He said, “Oh boy – I sure miss those hills!”