Real Estate Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

How I Paid Off My $400,000 Mortgage In 7.5 Years, Before I Was 32

August 25, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 57 Comments

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Today, I have a great article from a reader, Rob from Mustard Seed Money. Rob was able to pay off his $400,000 mortgage in just 7.5 years, all before he was 32 years old. Below is his story, enjoy!

Rob was able to pay off his $400,000 mortgage in just 7.5 years, all before he was 32 years old. Here is his mortgage payoff story. I was one of those weird kids that couldn’t wait to graduate from college. I’ve always had a long-term focus and viewed college as a stepping stone. One day during my freshman year, I remember walking to class with a friend saying that I couldn’t wait to graduate and start making some money.

My friend turned to me with an incredulous look and confessed he planned to live it up while he could.

Needless to say, I probably didn’t enjoy college as much as others did.

I had too strong of a focus on life after college to ensure that I'd reach the life goals that I had set up for myself. I wanted to obtain a good job, get married, buy a house and fill it up with some kiddos.

Of course, what actually ended up happening did not follow the order that I had envisioned. But, I can honestly say I love the way things turned out. [Read more…]

How This 29 Year Old Is Building A Real Estate Empire

June 26, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 48 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I'm loving this new interview series that focuses on people who are doing extraordinary things with their lives. All of these stories have been incredibly motivating, and I can’t wait to share more! Past interviews include How This 28 Year Old Retired With $2.25 Million, How This Couple Paid off $204,971.31 in Debt, and How This Couple Bought an $11,500 RV, Traveled To All 50 States, and Built A Thriving Business.

For today’s post I interviewed 29 year old Elizabeth Colegrove, a successful real estate investor, property manager, and landlord.

She currently owns eight rental properties and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

I asked you, my readers, what questions I should ask Elizabeth Colegrove, so below are your questions (and some of mine) about owning rental real estate and being a long distance landlord. Make sure you're following me on Facebook so you have the opportunity to submit your own questions for the next interview.

In today's interview, Elizabeth shows us how exactly she built her real estate empire, the process to affording each, what she looks for in rentals, how she manages her real estate properties long distance, and more. You can follow her on her blog at Reluctant Landlord. [Read more…]

Financing Furniture- A Disaster Waiting to Happen

June 5, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 35 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Offers for financing furniture are everywhere these days. You’ll see commercials on TV, offers in stores, signs on streets, and more.

Financing furniture is usually a bad idea. Having a home furniture payment through furniture financing is bad news as it can wreck your finances! Having a home makeover doesn't have to make you broke - you can DIY a living room, find affordable ideas, and more! I see them all the time, and I can't believe the “deals” they are promising people.

To be honest, I have never once seen a good deal on furniture financing.

I've seen offers for bed frames at $100 a week for a year, computers at $50 a week for a year, and so on. The low monthly payment is what pulls people in, but when you think about how long you will be making that payment, financing furniture and electronics becomes pretty unrealistic.

Side note: Of course, there are always exceptions when it comes to financing and credit. If you know how to take advantage of certain financing offers, then you may be able to come out ahead. However, if you know that you are not good at handling debt (which is probably the majority of the population), then it may be best to avoid offers like this completely. [Read more…]

20 Ways I Saved a 20% Deposit To Purchase My First Investment Property At 20

May 26, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 33 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Michelle's quick note: Today, I have a great blog post on how to save money for a large deposit from Rachael, who is a long-time reader of Making Sense of Cents. Rachael purchased her first investment property at the age of 20 by saving for a deposit and found many great ways to save for the 20% deposit. Below is her blog post. Enjoy!

I bought my first property with a 20% deposit when I was 20. I started saving for a deposit with my money, my parents never gave me a cent. How did I do it? I bought my first investment property with a 20% deposit when I was 20 years old (admittedly I was 2 weeks shy of turning 21!). I accomplished saving for a deposit with my own money, my parents never gave me a cent. So how did I do it?

1. The first thing I did was start applying for jobs as soon as I turned old enough to get a job. I started working when I was 15 as a checkout chick at Woolworths. Not very glamorous, a bit boring and repetitive but I was earning money! I worked about 10 hours a week during my last 2 years of high school, and worked around 20 hours per week during the school holidays. I worked at Woolworths for 3 and a half years and saved a good chunk of the money I earned.

Related: 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money

2. When I worked during high school the only time I would ever say no to a shift is if I was sick or had an exam the next day. It didn’t matter if I didn’t want to go to work (does anyone ever actually want to go to work?) I hated that job but I wanted a property so I went to work. [Read more…]

Downsizing Your Home? Here’s How I Went From A 2,000 Square Foot House To An RV

May 23, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 74 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Downsizing your home can be a big process. And, less and less people seem to be doing it these days.

The average home size in 1950 was less than 1,000 square feet. Fast forward to 2013, the average home size has increased to nearly 2,600 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

We were fairly close to this size when we owned a house. The house we owned in the St. Louis, Missouri area was around 2,500 square feet if you included our finished basement, and it was just for myself, my husband, and our two dogs. Our home in Colorado was almost as big, at slightly over 2,000 square feet (with no basement).

More and more people seem to be purchasing large homes, but that's not the case for us. We sold our home last year and moved into an RV.

We made this decision for many reasons, but the main reason was that traveling nearly full-time added to the stress of owning a home. So, we figured why not just take it a step further and actually travel full-time?
[Read more…]

Downsizing Our House Has Allowed Us To Pursue Our Dream Life

April 22, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Here's an awesome post from my friend Emma. As you know, we recently downsized and we now live in our RV. Life is awesome!

In August of 2015, we returned from 15 months of travel through Mexico and Europe with our young son.

We saved hard throughout my pregnancy and were able to fund 15 months of travel with our savings.

However, eventually our savings ran out and we had to go home. Although the savings account was decimated, my attitude to life was completely altered.

I was hooked and wanted to make travel a core part of my everyday lifestyle. I came up with a slightly crazy goal of chasing the summer around the world, traveling for months at a time – between hemispheres, across oceans. Cruise ships. Train travel. Driving an RV across the US.

Wherever we wanted to go. [Read more…]

Can You Remove PMI From Your Mortgage?

March 25, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you looking to remove PMI from your mortgage?

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median list price for homes is $232,000. If you have PMI of 1% that means you would have an annual private mortgage insurance (PMI) cost of $2,320, or $193 per month.

That's a lot of money!

More people should think about removing PMI, as this money could be put towards a retirement account, funding an emergency fund, paying off debt, and more.

If only I could rewind the last seven years and listen to my own advice!

In 2009, me and my husband bought a house but didn't have 20% down. We were taking advantage of the low housing prices and the first time homebuyer's tax credit.

One thing we didn't much think about was mortgage insurance and how much it would affect us.

Yes, we're human, and we made a mistake. While we no longer own that home (we are full-time RVers now), we do wish we would have found a way to not pay mortgage insurance. [Read more…]

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