Using Real Estate to Fund Your Retirement

I recently discussed funding your kids' college through real estate, and today I wanted to talk about funding your retirement through real estate investing. 

Think about your current plan - are you putting money in stocks and your 401K, are you banking on social security, or are you just saving money? If you don't have a good savings interest rate, you're going to have to save a lot of money to prepare for retirement.

Consider the possibility of purchasing a few single-family rental homes or condos and financing them on a 15 or 30-year mortgage. You would have tenants who pay rent that's more than the mortgage for monthly cash flow, and in 15 or 30 years, that property would be paid for. If you have five houses paid for when you retire, that's a pretty good income.

Rental properties can generate monthly cash flow as well as equity.

Five houses renting at $1,000 a month is $60,000 a year in income, and if you have houses with $2,000 rent, you're looking at six figures in income from rental property alone. 

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is a good book to read to change the way you're thinking about money. He talks about acquiring assets and allowing them to produce income to fund other areas of your life. I encourage you to think along those lines. 

For this reason, I want to see how much interest there would be in an investment workshop. If you're interested in attending a three-hour workshop about the ins and outs, the good, the bad, and the ugly of residential real estate investing, email me at Justin@WoodallRealtyGroup.com. We’ll get you on a list to keep you updated about a potential event. 

I hope this topic has been informative and has challenged your thinking today. If I can ever do anything for you, give me a call or send me an email.

Jackie Ruined Her Life Going to College?

A recent headline on Consumer Reports' August edition really caught my eye: "I Kind of Ruined My Life Going to College."

What are they talking about? Well, 42 million people owe a total of $1.3 trillion in student debt. What’s even more scary is that 45% of the people with student loan debt said college was not worth the cost. Additionally, 47% of these people said given the chance, they'd go to a lower cost school if they could do it over.

This bears the question: What is your plan to send your kids to college? 

If you can begin planning now, you want to start saving. Savings accounts don't have great interest rates now, so you have to save a lot. You could invest in stocks, but who knows what the market is going to do?

What if you used residential real estate as college funding for your kids? If you purchase a property that you can rent out when your kids are young, it can be paid for in 15 to 20 years, giving you options when the time comes for them to go to college. 

"What is your plan to fund your kids' college?"

You can sell the home and use that equity to fund their college. You could also continue leasing the home and use the monthly cash flow to pay for college.

A third option would be buying a house here in Athens if your kids are going to UGA, for example. You could rent the house to them to eliminate room and board costs, and charge their roommates rent to pay for college expenses. 

Remember, this strategy is not for everyone, but it's an option that I wanted you to be aware of. I think it's tragic for students to leave college with so much debt. It's hindering them from buying their first homes and saving for retirement, among other things. 

If you have any questions about buying a rental or income-producing property, I'd love to help you out. Give me a call or send me an email and let's talk about whether this is a good option for you and for your kids' future.