by MarkJ » Tue 07 Apr 2009, 08:21:54
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'M')aybe things are still looking good for Mark. He could be setup well enough where this depression won't have much impact on him?
Yes, we have no mortgages, no personal loans, no vehicle loans and no credit card debt. With multiple income streams, substantial savings, assets and investments we could survive without working, or working very little for extended periods of time. One of our largest debts was money my wife still owed her parents for medical school and business loans which we repaid in full several months ago.
We could survive comfortably on the income from rents and leases alone, even if we reduced rents to a fraction of current market rates. We also have vacant homes, apartments, rooms and commercial space (much unfinished) that we could sell, renovate, rent or lease if we needed more money. We could also raise many rents since the majority are well below market rates.
If we needed additional money we could also rent our waterfront homes, plus lower apartments by the week Memorial Day to Labor Day season for big bucks like we used to do when we were younger. During the summer tourist and horse racing season, we could rent rooms, garages even the finished basements if we wanted to.
When I bought one of my first multi-family homes at the age of 19, within the year I rented all 5 units, two rooms in my own unit, a basement apartment, the garage and 5 extra parking spaces.
My wife calculated that we'd make an additional 70K per year in rental income if we tossed out our relatives that are either living rent free, or at greatly reduced rents in our apartments.
Our daughters are also spoiled financially by our parents and grandparents which takes a large financial load off our personal budget.