Female here, single, solidly middle-aged (I’ll be 50 next year). I bought my first condo in 1998, bought and moved into my 2nd condo in 2001. Kept the first condo as a rental.
In 2003 as the value of my 2 condo’s kept skyrocketing, I was feeling like quite the savvy real estate investor. So, I HELOC’d condo #2 (my residence) and “invested” in condo #3 with a partner. Also HELOC’d enough to remodel my kitchen and bathrooms.
In 2006 my first condo had quadrupled in value, the condo I was living in had doubled in value. If I had been smart (or had discovered Piggington’s back then) I would have sold condo #2, paid off condo #1 and #3, moved back into condo #1, and semi-retired with $50K in the bank, minimal expenses and a little bit of cash flow from condo #3.
Instead, I’m now at the point where if I had to fire-sale liquidate all 3 of my properties I would be lucky to walk away with $20K. And to think, 2 years ago I was worth 1/4 million! Oh well, 50 is too young to retire anyway.
I hope by the time I’m 62 I’ll be able to sell one of the rental condos, pay off whatever is left on the other 2, and spend the rest of my years financially stress free in beautiful San Diego.
