Renman jumpin' in

[renman]

Hi everyone,
I guess I'm following what appears to be the standard routine: lurking for awhile then decided to climb aboard.  I really enjoy the cameraderie and the things I've learned here

A little background...I'm 48, married 13 yrs, DW is 55.  BSME 1981, civil service since '84, FERS.  DW retired this year w/CSRS. 

I've always been fascinated with real estate and bought a fixer-upper in '87.   The house had a detached garage with a tiny apt above.  I renovated that and then did the main house.   The place next door came up for sale in 1990 so I bought it and kept it rented out to the Navy guys who were living there.  Repeated the process several times since then, including the house we now live in. 

Ever since DW retired, it's been tough getting out of bed and going to work while your partner rolls over for another 40 winks.  One day as I was grousing about this, one of my buddies at work remarked, "Why don't you retire too?  You've got all those houses."  It was like a whap up-side the head!  I've been in acquisition mode for so long, it's hard to think about the next phase.

Anyway, I'd lose a lot by leaving the gov't now; health benefits being the largest concern.  But it's great to dream...and you guys are a fun bunch to hang out with!  Hopefully, I can add to the conversation.

Oh yeah,  I've got ~ 300k in TSP, wife has 55k.  We've got around 30k in Roth IRA's and maybe 20k in taxable mutual funds.

Talk to you later!

Renman

 

[MooreBonds]

Welcome Renman!

Have you taken any preliminary looks at if you could retire tomorrow? Have you compared how your cash flow/net income/projected expenses on your rentals compare with what your needs will be?

 

[Sheryl]

Hi Renman! Welcome to the zoo.

 

[renman]

Peter76:
I've found that with with rental property; if they can carry themselves,you're doing good! Mine are just about cash flow neutral, but I'm paying 'em down quicker with extra principal payments. Three will be paid off in about 6 years and will generate around 3k a month pre-tax. One has a monster new mortgage so I'll be paying on it forever! (Just acqired it and did top shelf reno on it).
Now, if I held a fire sale, I could probably gross 600k before taxes and dep recapture. (Mmm, poor choice of words: 'fire sale', let's say quick sale) If taxes,etc took a third, that'd leave 400k plus my TSP, and DW's csrs pension of around 30k. It's close, but I don't think I'm there yet!

Hi Sheryl, Where's the koala exhibit?

 

[Martha]

Peter76:
I've found that with with rental property; if they can carry themselves,you're doing good! Mine are just about cash flow neutral, but I'm paying 'em down quicker with extra principal payments. Three will be paid off in about 6 years and will generate around 3k a month pre-tax. One has a monster new mortgage so I'll be paying on it forever! (Just acqired it and did top shelf reno on it).
Now, if I held a fire sale, I could probably gross 600k before taxes and dep recapture. (Mmm, poor choice of words: 'fire sale', let's say quick sale) If taxes,etc took a third, that'd leave 400k plus my TSP, and DW's csrs pension of around 30k. It's close, but I don't think I'm there yet!

Do you really think taxes would take a third? The recapture would be at 25% federal, but the remaining gain only at 15%. (I don't know about your state taxes).

 

[Dreamer]

Hi Renman,

Welcome aboard. I am CSRS. My spouse is covered under my health ins under the family plan. Can your wife pick you up on her plan or did that have to be done prior to her retirement? I would definitely check into that possibility.

Dreamer

 

[ESRBob]

Renman,
Welcome. Aside from savings, how about the houses? Are they generating cash, on balance? Or still sucking cash? How long till the first mortgages are paid off? My brother and his family ERd principally off rent from their rehabbed houses, and only have cash savings as an afterthought.

 

[renman]

Martha: Mea culpa. I was thinking taxes on ordinary income. See, I'm learning SO much here! VA state taxes aren't too much different than other states, I don't think.

Dreamer: Maybe she can change from self to family during the coming open season. Being retired, I didn't think that was an option. Thanks, I'll look into it.

ESRBob: Please look back to my previous post. Selling 'em seems the best way
to realize the gains. Maybe carrying back the financing?... That would improve the cash flow, now wouldn't it?


Thanks for all the substantive comments, folks. I feel like quite the grasshopper!

 

[ESRBob]

ESRBob: Please look back to my previous post. Selling 'em seems the best way
to realize the gains. Maybe carrying back the financing?... That would improve the cash flow, now wouldn't it?

oops, missed that one... Now I see.

Don't know your timetable, but is six years too long to wait? that 3k/month (presumably inflation adjusted roughly in line by rent increases) looks like a tasty base for ER -- the 400k of equity (if I am reading that correctly) would only be generating 12k a year at the normal range SWR. You may be better off to hold onto them?

 

[renman]

No, I can wait 'til the mortgages are paid off. I'm fortunate in that my job, while not challenging enough, is not so onerous that I MUST leave now. But then I'd have 3 short years until regular retirement @ 57 which, on balance, is pretty early.
So, I'm pretty mixed up right now; just sorting out the options and learning.
On a lighter note, I brewed a tasty pumpkin ale and it's going down easy!

Renman

 

[SteveR]

No, I can wait 'til the mortgages are paid off.  I'm fortunate in that my job, while not challenging enough, is not so onerous that I MUST leave now.  But then I'd have 3 short years until regular retirement @ 57 which, on balance, is pretty early. 
So, I'm pretty mixed up right now; just sorting out the options and learning. 
On a lighter note, I brewed a tasty pumpkin ale and it's going down easy!

Renman

I am sitting on a couple of mortgages; one for the house which will be sold in 3-5 years while we down-size internally; the other is a vacation home near here that we will not sell in our life time. Sorting out stuff in a good thing. We are doing the same thing. We are looking at pulling the plug in late 2007; it all depends on my son being out of school and some other funding we want to do before we lower our income substantially.

There are a couple of brewers here. I do some homebrew from time to time---all grain and have my own yeast farm. Brewer12345 is also a homebrewer. I have never done a pumpkin but I have a receip in my head for one. Maybe I will have time after I retire. Too much to do these days it seems. Do you bottle or keg? I prefer kegs since I don't have people here that appreciate ales. I used to bottle a bunch and give them away but we moved and the crowd here barely drinks and ales are too bitter for them. 8)

 

[renman]

I'm an all grain kegger as well. Usually brew hoppy over-the-top pale ales like Celebration Ale or Stone's Arrogant Bastard.
There's a foreclosure coming up on Nov 21st. It's in a well regarded neighborhood and looks good from the street. If the title search comes back clean, I might attend the auction. I doubt I can cover the mort pmt with the rent, so I would probably turn it over right away. I've never flipped a property before; I'm the buy and hold type.

 

[bosco]

I'm an all grain kegger as well. Usually brew hoppy over-the-top pale ales like Celebration Ale or Stone's Arrogant Bastard.
There's a foreclosure coming up on Nov 21st. It's in a well regarded neighborhood and looks good from the street. If the title search comes back clean, I might attend the auction. I doubt I can cover the mort pmt with the rent, so I would probably turn it over right away. I've never flipped a property before; I'm the buy and hold type.

Now yer talkin' my language!!!

I'm an all-grain brewer as well, and seem to have similar beer tastes as your's (love the Belgians also). I'm also a BJCP-certified judge and volunteer (have a bunch of judging exams to grade that I'm presently avoiding with this forum).