What would you do?

[Andrast]

What would you do if you had roughly $500K of equity in your home and was interested in making a real estate investment? Would you look for something now? Or wait longer to see what the market does? If you were do to something now, what would it be? Get a HELOC? Refinance? Or ??

[surveyor]

re investing…

if you are looking to buy anything in San Diego or California, you probably can’t buy anything that will make money for at least six years or more.

If I had $500k of equity, I would buy several properties, all multi-units that cash flow, in Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, and Denver.

If you are taking money out of your home, you should probably refi (do not HELOC) and get a 10 year interest only or a 30 year fixed. Make sure the cash flow you get from the new properties will offset the additional mortgage amount you would have to make under the new loan.

i posted in another thread about a real estate class here: http://piggington.com/re_fi_equity_out_buy_later

Make sure you learn more before doing this. It sounds like you have a lot of questions.

[gold_dredger_phd]

I would sell my stake in the house and retire in the Midwest or Nevada. You can live off of $500K.

[Nancy_s soothsayer]

This is what we have done: Sold the house in San Diego in 2005 and cashed in the $500K equity out of it. Bought and fully paid a brand new house in Texas for cash. Banked remaining chunk of cash in CD’s and bought EuroPacific stocks for the rest. Husband looked for equivalent job and pay in Texas (was very successful at that) and no longer pays the state income tax. New job will allow him to get Ssbi top secret clearance which will open so many more doors. Wife (me!) became a Stepford wife wearing pearls, making “wearable art” jewelry and cooking delicious meals everyday. Wow. Just like what I had always dreamt when I was a young kid. Personal anecdotes to answer thread question would probably carry some weight, maybe?

[PerryChase]

Nancy, sounds like you got it made 😉

My friend relocated to Dallas due to an unwanted but mandatory job transfer. Now he loves it. He has a townhouse with attached garage for less than he paid for his Mission Valley apartment. Plus he got a big incentive bonus and salary increase for moving to Dallas. Although he never wanted to move away, he now says that San Diego is overated.

However, I still don’t believe him. I want nothing to do with Texas, the humid weather, bugs, rain, and guns.

[Anonymous]

Perry, Texas is a lot more liveable than you think. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I go back to see my family in summer, how bearable the heat is.

San Diego weather is great, and as a sailor, I love living on the ocean. But, for right wingers like me, the coddling of illegals, big bucks for stupid projects like the Sphincter (aka Sprinter), etc. Only my wife’s family keeps us here.

[sdrealtor]

I’m with Perry on this one. been to Texas many times and I just don’t get it. I guess you have to be from there to appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

sdr, have you spent much time in Austin? Green, rolling hills, nice rivers. Good food, good music. Great little neighborhoods in the city, such as Terrytown. Austin is a nice town.

Dallas has some nice neighborhoods, as does Houston. Same with San Antonio. The rest of the state, I don’t know about.

Texas is sane. California is not.

[sdrealtor]

No not much time in Austin. My guess is that as as a college town I’d like it more than most of the other places I’ve been in Texas. To be honest i dont think Texas is dreadful. In my eye’s it medicore and at best average. Mos t people I’ve met from Texas think its the best place in the world and i just Dont get that. There are lots of great places in this country through my eyes (NYC, Chicago, Seattle, SF, SD, Western NC, parts of VT and many others I really like. But when I think of great places, nowhere in Texas ever comes to mind.

[CardiffBaseball]

8 years in Abilene (military and finishing college).

4 in Dallas.

Also for consulting purposes had an apartment or hotel room in Houston for about a year while living in Dallas. Eventually after the MBA, went to work for big iron company who moved me back to Ohio.

I’d consider Texas for the right deal but I am not exactly looking. The no-state tax thing adds up, and I had fun in Dallas. I was fortunate enough to get the kids out of there before they became Cowboys fans.

[sdrealtor]

Good job CB! Those kids need to be long suffering Browns fans too;)

SDR (Another long suffering NFL fan)

[Andrast]

Some good suggestions here. I guess I should have stated that leaving San Diego is not an option. 🙂

[ibjames]

Chicago a good city? Yuck, urban wasteland. Super frigid winters (it is called the windy city), and it seems like everyone’s car is dented.

Old buildings, nothing is green. Tolls, horrible traffic..

I’ve heard great things about Austin, the housing down there is so cheap, and they have a large tech industry down there. I love SD though

[Author]

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