Would this be worth it to "get ahead" financially?

[JennifersLost]

Dh made an odd proposal last night that I talk about here. That's where I cover the pluses and some of the difficulties.

 

What I don't cover in the blog post is that it would involve our family living in two separate side-by-side houses. I'm not sure exactly how we'd set things up, but my fear is that we'd end up with the older kids spending most of their time in one house and the rest of us spending most of our time in the other.

 

Would we somehow get around that and still manage to be close? Would it be an adventure?

 

It could easily make a difference of around $40,000 plus PER YEAR that would go straight into savings for retirement, college, etc. We would have more spending money now, too.

 

WWYD?

[Karen sn]

link not working

[Laurel]

The link is missing the i in Jennifer. Click the link in the sig, it works.

[Brenda in FL]

I think there might be more to just the kids spending too much time alone in one dwelling while the rest of the family is in the other.

 

I would think about what message the kids are getting about family, marriage, finances, etc. and could that lead to a perception on their part that's going to be different than the values you are trying to impose.

 

I say this with my own assumptions about how this scheme for more money will work - so I could be totally wrong and the above would not apply - if so ignore it!:001_smile:

 

However, I will say that when my sister and I were teens - we always hoped my parents could get a duplex and we could live in one half and the parents in the other! (As an adult - I don't think its such a great idea anymore!)

[Melinda in VT]

Dh made an odd proposal last night that I talk about here. That's where I cover the pluses and some of the difficulties.

 

What I don't cover in the blog post is that it would involve our family living in two separate side-by-side houses. I'm not sure exactly how we'd set things up, but my fear is that we'd end up with the older kids spending most of their time in one house and the rest of us spending most of our time in the other.

 

Would we somehow get around that and still manage to be close? Would it be an adventure?

 

It could easily make a difference of around $40,000 plus PER YEAR that would go straight into savings for retirement, college, etc. We would have more spending money now, too.

 

WWYD?

 

I don't know enough about the situation to have an opinion yet. Are the houses connected? Or just next door? How big is each house? Why couldn't you all just live in one?

[*anj*]

What's the plan? Buying two houses, then renting out space in both, but since you live in both houses you don't pay as much in taxes?

 

Would this be indefinite?

The fact that you call it a scheme makes me a little nervous.

What happens if it doesn't work? What would you potentially lose?

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Dh made an odd proposal last night that I talk about here. That's where I cover the pluses and some of the difficulties.

 

What I don't cover in the blog post is that it would involve our family living in two separate side-by-side houses. I'm not sure exactly how we'd set things up, but my fear is that we'd end up with the older kids spending most of their time in one house and the rest of us spending most of our time in the other.

 

Would we somehow get around that and still manage to be close? Would it be an adventure?

 

It could easily make a difference of around $40,000 plus PER YEAR that would go straight into savings for retirement, college, etc. We would have more spending money now, too.

 

WWYD?

 

I'd do it in a skinny minute.

[j.griff]

There's just not enough info for me to give an opinion on whether I'd consider it or not. Sorry.

[Aubrey]

No link to full situation, so take this w a grain of salt.

 

My understanding: Two houses, for whatever reason w/ financial benefits but family drawbacks.

 

Could you designate one house for hs'ing/writing/projects, etc. & the other for family? Lock the doors to the "extra" house when not there, so big kids won't "hang out" there unsupervised?

 

I'm probably not getting it, though, because I can't figure out how this would create a financial benefit. Well, I can imagine *some* things, but they're pretty far out.:001_smile:

[JennifersLost]

We already own a rental property with three small houses and a six-plex of apartments spread over one acre.

 

We also own a house that we bought a year and a half ago. Our area is booming. We would not fit in any one of the houses on our rental property - they're quite small (less than 900 sf a piece). If we sold our current house we'd make more than $100,000 profit. We would have a bunch of money sitting in the bank earning interest. We would still net about $2000 a month from our remaining rentals. All in all we would more than pay our bills just by sitting there in those rentals and letting our money make money from us.

 

That doesn't count any money dh makes from writing and selling his computer games (a business that grows yearly) and I make from selling a book eventually. All that extra could go straight into the bank or make our daily lives more comfortable.

 

But...the two houses are not duplexes - there is about 60 feet between them. Dh's original suggestion was that we and dd would take the bedrooms in one house, the boys would take the bedrooms in the other. We would only cook and eat together in "our" house. The kids' house would have all the musical instruments, the video games, the ping pong table. - all the noisy, messy stuff so that they wouldn't have to ask before playing the drumset, etc. Our house would have the grown-up friendly livingroom - we would entertain there, etc.

 

My immediate answer was no. No way. No way in heck am I sleeping in a different house from my kids until they are 18 and on their own. I was shocked HE'd be comfortable with it because usually his "danger radar" is so much more sensitive than mine and he's the one saying no.

 

I put forward a different scheme for dividing the houses and he wasn't too keen on it. We ended the conversation saying we probably wouldn't do it, but he told me this morning he was awake for hours last night thinking about it again. So, it's on our minds. We don't have to do it, but it would make us incredibly financially stable.

 

We could still walk to town but it would be a longer walk and I would not be comfortable doing so at night through that area. On the other hand we only have one car. With dh working from home and living right there at the rentals, I would pretty much have the car 24/7 to myself.

 

This one is a real doozy to me. I suggested setting it up with us all sleeping in one house for a couple of years until the boys are bigger. Maybe dh will come around to my way of thinking. I don't know.

 

So - there's no "scheme"; no illegality or anything. Just a very weird living set-up no matter how you slice it. I'm not sure I want to deal with it, but in a few short years we could be leagues ahead of where we are today.

 

The Jennifers Everywhere link below will take you to the blog entry.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Well, for me, all kids under, say, 17 would definitely be sleeping under a roof with an adult. That would be the deal-breaker, probably.

 

Have you considered installing a tunnel system?

[JennifersLost]

LOL! That's exactly what I said to dh. I say build a tunnel or a really huge fence around both houses and let's get a dog.

[ChristyB in TN]

I think it would be great and the money saved would make it worth it. I like how your husband has it all divided up, too. Besides that, if you don't like it, you can always move again or build another house on the property, add on, etc. I love the idea of a dog and a fence plus I would add a great intercom system and a cameras at the doors where you could monitor on your computer from each of the houses. Those are simple and inexpensive. Unconventional plans are cool.

[JennifersLost]

Dh already came back with a new plan, LOL!

 

I get in such a tizzy sometimes and forget that he actually LISTENS to my input. It's a holdover from my previous awful relationship. I still forget dh is different - better - wonderful!

 

Anyway, there's another house on the property rented by a guy I don't like. He's been there for a decade - has always paid rent on time, but he's rough around the edges and has a dog, which he's not supposed to have. Also parks broken down cars on the lawn, etc - you get the picture.

 

Dh came back and said maybe we should give him notice and take that house - it's 1600 sf. And then still use one of the small ones for our offices. We'd all sleep/live in the same house. Dh and I would commute across the lawn to work, LOL.

 

MUCH BETTER!

 

So, now my issues are:

 

1. I don't think that house has a dishwasher. Cringe!

 

2. It's still less space than we have now. I can sit about 25 to dinner easily in my diningroom now and I like that, but....it's only a few times per year.

 

3. I'd have to deal with renters more. I hate dealing with renters.

 

4. The whole farther from town thing.

 

I guess those are small things, really. I still don't know if it will happen/how we'd make it happen. I'm still feeling panicky. But this is a much better scenario for me than the first one.

[PrairieAir]

I would do it with either plan, but I like the second best. My kids are all older, though. I'm not sure how old yours are and I don't know what they're like. I can see my 17yo and 13yo sleeping in a house 60 feet away. It might even be good practice for them if you set it up so that they feel they have more "ownership" of it--give them a taste for running a household and living on their own by having some responsibilities to go with that (mostly sense of) freedom. We considered finishing the top of our detached garage more so that oldest ds could have it as an apartment this year. Mostly that didn't happen because it meant spending more money on something we didn't need. It's also hard to say since I don't know anything about where you live. I would have no problem *here*, but in Wichita it might be different.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Dh already came back with a new plan, LOL!

 

I get in such a tizzy sometimes and forget that he actually LISTENS to my input. It's a holdover from my previous awful relationship. I still forget dh is different - better - wonderful!

 

Anyway, there's another house on the property rented by a guy I don't like. He's been there for a decade - has always paid rent on time, but he's rough around the edges and has a dog, which he's not supposed to have. Also parks broken down cars on the lawn, etc - you get the picture.

 

Dh came back and said maybe we should give him notice and take that house - it's 1600 sf. And then still use one of the small ones for our offices. We'd all sleep/live in the same house. Dh and I would commute across the lawn to work, LOL.

 

MUCH BETTER!

 

So, now my issues are:

 

1. I don't think that house has a dishwasher. Cringe!

 

2. It's still less space than we have now. I can sit about 25 to dinner easily in my diningroom now and I like that, but....it's only a few times per year.

 

3. I'd have to deal with renters more. I hate dealing with renters.

 

4. The whole farther from town thing.

 

I guess those are small things, really. I still don't know if it will happen/how we'd make it happen. I'm still feeling panicky. But this is a much better scenario for me than the first one.

 

The other thing -- he goes out of the house to work. That's a BIG plus, esp. if you're homeschooling next year.

 

Dishwasher, pish. Buy a diswasher with part of the profits from the sale. How hard is that?

 

Have him vow to deal with the renters 90% of the time. Part of the "bargain."

 

Farther from town is a big deal -- if that's a big deal.

 

Twenty-five to dinner vs. all that money. $$ wins, babe. Take 'em in shifts like the rest of us peasants. :001_smile:

[Mama Lynx]

Could you arrange it so that you all slept in one house, and lived in the other? In other words, make the living room, etc. in the one house into bedrooms. Forget entertaining. Just use it for sleeping, or possibly for quiet study during the day.

 

Then you could use the other house for school, work, play, and entertaining.

 

If I could work that out, I'd do it.

[Brenda in FL]

Scratch my previous reponse! Now with more information I don't think its such an issue and if you can all be under one roof at night - that's even better! Now you just need to figure out if you can live with your list of cons.

 

Incidently, I thought perhaps you were seperating households for income tax reasons or some such thing. I don't know . . .

[sassenach]

Could you arrange it so that you all slept in one house, and lived in the other? In other words, make the living room, etc. in the one house into bedrooms. Forget entertaining. Just use it for sleeping, or possibly for quiet study during the day.

 

Then you could use the other house for school, work, play, and entertaining.

 

If I could work that out, I'd do it.

 

That's my thought. It would be unconventional, but a much better option to me than sleeping in 2 different houses. As a teen, I was very "responsible and mature." That gave my parent's a false sense of security about my ability to handle lots of freedom. They gave and I took it happily. Then I made a load of really bad decisions. Too much freedom is a bad thing, no matter how mature the kids are. I wouldn't make any decision of this magnitude without complete peace about it.

[JennifersLost]

Brenda - I thought your mind was going there, LOL. No, we're very much people who live life on the up-and-up. It was the kids sleeping elsewhere thing that was blowing me away. I like dh's second plan much better, too.

 

He's away all day so it will be interesting to see what he has to say later today. I have no idea if this will happen or not.

[Cheryl in NM]

I really like the 2nd plan. You could always use the "office" house for a large dinner party.

 

I wouldn't do the 1st plan. Kids really need that supervision. I know they seem so mature sometimes, but take away the parental guidance and you'll find out exactly how immature they are. It can really be a dangerous situation. Even if the kids behave perfectly you could have a fire or burglar in one house and not know about it in the second house.

[Audrey]

1. I don't think that house has a dishwasher. Cringe!

 

 

 

I have no helpful advice, but I must address this one.

 

Honey... if the house has a husband in it, it's got a dishwasher! :thumbup:

[Chris in VA]

So what did you decide, Jennifer?

I'm so excited for you! I'd do it in a heartbeat. I've always loved the idea of having little houses for other uses. Take the 1600sqft house and make the other one your office and maybe the kid's homeschool.

[JennifersLost]

Dh stopped in for dinner after working on the renovation all day. He was covered with sawdust and he seemed very disgruntled and cranky. He muttered something about selling them all, and went back to work, LOL.

 

I guess this might be a long-term discussion, or a sort of "wait and see how this spring goes" kind of thing.

[Sweetpeach]

Jennifer, I totally vote for taking the 100k equity and then moving into the "other" property, a bit further away from town.

 

It's not forever -- I assume you have a plan in place to build your "forever house," right?? Short term pain for very lucrative long-term gain.

 

I'm currently living in a split entry with wall-to-wall pink carpet which makes me almost barf everyday, but for now, while we're accumulating property and making things work, it's just a minor snag in the day.

 

Quite frankly, the fact that you are "living" from your rental property cash-flow is very, very impressive. Beyond impressive. You've walked your own path, and look at you go. I don't know many people who manage their world on residual income. Holy Smokes.

 

T

[JennifersLost]

Update.

 

Dh came home this afternoon wanting to talk "seriously" about this idea. We might make up our minds about it this week.

 

We're going to talk to our realtor over the next couple of days and some other people whose opinions we trust. Then we'll just....make up our minds!!!!

 

It looks like we might end up in two houses that are right next to each other. We'll sleep in one house (the bigger one) and the offices and ping pong room will be in the other. We can entertain in that one, too, if we push things out of the way.

 

Like I told dh - it really comes down to money for me right now. It's a little inconvenient but not horribly so. I like our present house but it's not my dream house. I'd like to get to the college years very, very secure so we're not having to put off our dreams even longer while the kids go through school.

 

Dh knows what I want - more travel, more fooling-around money, a little more fun in our lives. I think this situation would give us that, plus we'd be pretty recession-proof.

 

Sweetpeach - you're right: DH has been something of a genius to get us to this level and right now our "residual income" doesn't pay the whole bill - he has to make money off of his games, too. If we moved, the interest on our savings plus the rental income left over would pay our bills as they stand today. I am grateful dh has stuck to his guns sometimes over difficult decisions, and what I have learned over the years allows me to look at this and say making this move and dealing with the inconvenience could pay off in a good way in a few years.

 

Oh, but starting over with an all-new renovation! Aaaaaaaack! We're only just finishing up this one!

 

I guess I need to keep thinking about our renos and flips as our "job" to put it in perspective.

[Sweetpeach]

I guess I need to keep thinking about our renos and flips as our "job" to put it in perspective.

 

I absolutely see my life as working two jobs, simultaneously. I do school and we do real estate. I can't remember living in a house that didn't have one or many renovations going on at the same time. I must admit, there was something very sad about finishing up the reno's of a house at the 11th hour, to have it sold at the 12th and start up all over again.

 

I read this little diddy somewhere -- and I live by it during those moments of hard decisions, short-term pain, saving v. spending, hotel vacation or tenting . . . If the road to wealth were easy, everyone would be wealthy.

 

It's an uphill battle most days, but I want to keep plugging; not for my sake, but for the benefit of our generations to come.

 

Press on! It's worth the battle.

 

T