Poor my whole life, inheriting a house. Advice Please

Well, I live in Texas, so heat isn't an issue!

Any other ideas?

reply to post by graphuto


The house is inherited property. As such, it should be a protected asset if you get married and a divorce pops up in the future.

If the house doesn't meet your current needs - Sell it but use the cash as a down payment on a more desirable house. Then get a line of credit (no more than $10,000) on the house to pay immediate needs at a lower interest rate. Consider living without a car and using public transport. If you have to dig into the line of credit to buy food or paying living expenses, then you are living above your means.

Make sure the new house is in your name and get a pre-nup.

Tired of Control Freaks

Buddy, I'm afraid bandito is spot on. I know it sounds cruel, but in 20 years you could look back on the moment you handed her $27K, and pull the trigger, literally, or figuratively. At your income level $60K is life changing money. Make it a ositive change. There is no reason she shouldn't benefit from the money too, but in a more mutually constructive manner. The line between love, and hate is thinner than you realise. Take it from an old salt that has been there, and has the road rash to prove it. If you sell the house, put the money in a savings account, and pretend it isn't there, change nothing for a while. Take a breather, and really think. Cars are necessary, but devalue quickly. My truck was $42K brand new, today it is worth $7000, after only 10 years! Investment in education, or another property would be wise.

Originally posted by graphuto
Here's more information on the whole situation.

My fiancee is like 26K in debt for student loans and she owes her current university about 2K. She really wants to finish school but can't right now because we don't have the 2K. The house is in a town a good distance away, there isn't really anything for me there.

I dont know...

Dump the girlfriend. Keep the house.

I'll tell you what I did when I received an inheritance, and I was living the same way only with three kids to support on my own. I invested in myself by going back to school, and got myself into nursing school. I am 3 semesters away from being an RN. The money left to me would have been enought to buy the house we have been renting. But, I knew my life and the lives of my kids would be better off if I went back to school. I guess you could say that out of a loved one's death, I will be able to save lives, and this makes me feel really good about my choice. Whatever you do, don't cash out the money and put it into savings so you can blow through it. Be smart and do something with it that will benefit you for the rest of your life. Good luck!

reply to post by graphuto


#1 Keep the house and rent it out for 12 months. Then see how things are.

#2 now this is what I think is a better idea. Rent it out as a holiday home. Make sure the yard is secure for pet friendly; make sure you have good security windows and doors.
takeabreak.com.au check out these homes. We stayed in one and it was perfect. Basic furnishings. Kettle, toaster ect, just the added bonus of us having our pets stay with us, instead of a kennel or cattery.

These home owners make enough money to pay the council rates, electricity ect.
Just keep it simple and tidy. If you have a lot of room, you could also get the interest from guide, scouts and sports groups needing accommodation as a group booking.

hope it all goes well for you, and im sorry for your loss of a loved one, but im happy for your gain

How old is the house? Do you inherit its belongings? You may be able to recover an item or two that you could sell to make the 10k to get the car, while keeping the house. I would love to be in my house with it paid for. Its the best way to be ahead.. No rent or mortgage payments goes along way. One member saying to rent it out was a good idea too..

reply to post by graphuto


Don’t be to hard. Step back, take a breath and look at what was stated. Actually, it is good advice. The love of my life left me after 5 years. That field of roses when I was in love, turned out to be a field of red flags when times got tough. Burned through about a $100,000 on that relationship, so yea, $60,000 is not a whole lot. You can live comfortably for only two years on that, maybe three if you’re frugal, and have literally no problems. Remember, that a healthy, honest relationship is not just based on love. It is also just like a business. You have to constantly work on it to make it.

If you need a new vehicle, buy a used car from a reputable dealer. Three years old, but no more than six….unless you are a mechanic with the tools, warranties come in handy.

See what your fiancée says. If she wants you to pay all her bills, well, it’s your conundrum and I wish you best.

Me, I would sell the house, give her 2K to finish school as a Birthday/Anniversary gift and invest the rest. No house, no property tax, imminent domain, etc,. Come back to your investments in five years and see where you stand.

One last bit of advice, it’s your money, not hers…until your married. Good luck

reply to post by graphuto


Keep the house and the girlfreind. After you make sure you can afford the property taxes. dont use the house to pay bills especially hers until your sure your gonna make it and by htat I meen married and she is done with school and working.

You dont have to listen to any of us. But dont put the plow before the horse. We grow to soon old and to late smart.

The money will be gone in no time if you sell. at least a roof for free (besides taxes) will last you and if the relationship goes bad you still have somewhere to stay.

And if the relationship holds up you still have a place to raise your pups.

Your grandparents worked their hole live to pay off the place do you really want to let that go to waste . they lived thru the great depression and knew the value of a peice of dirt to call their own.

good luck

Rent it out... Here in Michigan renting a house, for a two bedroom house, can be around $700 a month. Not sure what it is there, but seems like the best choice to me.

Thanks everyone.

I'm a real estate agent (own my own agency) plus a property developer.

If you were in Australia, this is the advice I would give you.

1. Move into the home.
2. Spend as much time as possible renovating yourself - add value with things such as repainting interior / exterior, replace tiles, bathroom, light fittings, landscaping front and rear.
3. Re-finance on the equity ad (say it's worth 60k now, and you do work, and increase it's value to 100k, you can then take obtain a mortgage for the additional $40,000 to use as you wish).
4. Use the $40,000 as downpayment on another investment (so you don't put your own $$$ into the deal), and repeat process above.

I've done this, and have a portfolio of 7 properties, without spending any of my own "cash". The values have all gone up, and over the long term will turn into my investment strategy.

There's an old saying, "real estate is the cornerstone of wealth".

reply to post by justsaying


Way to go!!! I've been a RN for almost 10 years now. Good career choice. Hang in there, and keep playin' the game. After 10 years I still have no regrets. Some days you don't get paid enough to do what you have to do, other days you would do it for free, so it all comes out in the wash.

Also don't let all the old nurses eat you alive. They were just as dumb, and self-conscious as you will feel when you start out. Don't let em' grind you down. Take the job seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously. Most know-it-all nurses are compensating for inadequacies. Ask questions, take advice, but follow your gut, and you'll do great!

ex comando have a very good point.
Sure depending on the location and the market.
Another point is dont pay for student loan already.
They are used to reduce the income taxes at the end of year, once you start working.
Another way to reduce is by renting to someone you know, you know...
If you live in it, start gardening and if its far from civ. you can fish or hunt.
Dont think being poor is a fatality .

reply to post by Binder


Thank you Binder. I am adding you to my friends list. It's nice to have a nurse contact on this site! Your advice is very appreciated and I've already been on the receiving end of the clinic instructor from hell. Nurses really do eat their young! In such a caring profession, I find that so weird!

Lots of good advice given to the OP. I would just do your homework for the area that you live in. Trying to flip a house and make a nice profit is difficult in this country at this time. Since the mortgage scandals, it's harder for people to get home loans, and rentals seem to be more in demand. Whatever you are leaning towards doing, do your homework and ask lots of quesitons and think it through.

reply to post by graphuto


I would keep the house since it is paid for.
The money you would have paid in rent can
pay off your debts in time.
I would be legally married first before helping
someone pay off their college debts.

selling the house to pay off debt and buy a new car is just about the WORST thing you can do. It's completely ass-backwards excuse my language. Move into the house and if you find your debt load too great you can pull some equity out of the house to pay them off and buy a car...while still keeping a home. The equity loan will have a far better interest rate than a car loan or credit cards. As soon as you sell that house, you now have "nothing" to back you...the car depreciates the minute you've signed the paperwork..don't do it!!

You seriously need to speak to a financial manager or even someone down at the bank to guide you. You could make the worst mistake of your life in about 10 seconds flat. If you play your cards right, you can have a low re-mortgage payment, a new car and be debt free while still having a roof over your head...a roof that with a little DIY could possibly appreciate in value for the future

Michelle

Originally posted by Michelle129th
selling the house to pay off debt and buy a new car is just about the WORST thing you can do. It's completely ass-backwards excuse my language.

Ass backwards? According to who? I have no interest in owning a house.

reply to post by graphuto


Ass backwards according to anyone who knows how to manage money. You are wanting to trade a valuable commodity that will appreciate in value for a commodity that will drop like a turd in a pond in value. I was raised extremely poor, and the majority of my immediate family thinks just like this. You screw your future for short term goals. Think long term, and break the cycle please. I did, and so can you. Being poor is a choice. I know someone will flame me for that statement, but it is true. Most hard luck stories can be traced back to poor choices if the teller of the story is really honest. Yes honest, hardworking, smart people do end up in the poor house. Sometimes of their own fault, sometimes not, and need help at times,(been there) but they always rise again, and do things better the next time around. My grandfather always said "A poor man has poor ways." Absolute truth. To stop being poor you have to change your way of thinking.

I am not financially wealthy by a worldly standard. Between my professional career, and side ventures, and some other investments my household runs on about $120K a year. Sounds like a ton O' money? Not really. It is comfortable, and secure. It took 5 years of making $25K a year while working 2 part time jobs, and going to school full time, and raising kids simultaneously. It was hell on earth. I didn't like it. It was no fun, and cost me a lot of things. I drove a $500 beater, and ate Top Ramen soup 2 of 3 meals a day. When the beater broke down I hitchhicked to class, or job. It was humiliating. No Cable TV, no internet, no video game system, no cell phone, no dining out. The only splurges were holiday meals when we would buy all the traditional fixings at the grocery store. All my friends during that time that opted out of college, or other vocational pursuits were making $30K - $40K a year at manufacturing or labor jobs, and chiding me to "just get to work." and stop torturing myself, and family with myself, and wife both in college. Today we double what they make, if they still have jobs, and have secure jobs that have remained untouched by the economic downturn. But it took 5 years of painful rebirth, and re-programming our "poor ways."

This house represents your opportunity to rebirth yourself without as much financial pain. You have received a whole heap of good advice. There are no millionares that are not homeowners. Not that your goal should be that. We aren't telling you to sell your soul for money. We are just trying to get you to think about money differently, and see the opportunity you have been given, and take full advantage of it in a way that will set you on a positive upward track for the rest of your life. Money isn't everything, but it does make the down payment on everything. Money can't buy happiness, but the lack of it can cause much suffering.

From "The Gospel of Thomas" verse 63 Quote;

63. Jesus said,

“There was a rich man who had much money.

He said,

“I shall put my money to use so that I may
sow, reap, plant and fill my storehouse with produce,
with the result that I shall lack nothing.

Such were his intentions, but that same night he Died.

Let him who has ears hear.”

and in verse 95 Quote;

95. Jesus said,

“If you have money, do not lend it at interest,
but give it to one from whom you
will not get it back.”