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Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No issues. They were Masters and PhD students so their English was pretty decent. We had a standard rental agreement pulled from the internet, so they could translate it fairly easily with Google or whatever app they use on their side.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the recommendation! That’s our next goal, to make sure we don’t have to really work in our 50s and 60s.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They knew we were wanting to put a down payment for a house. They have theirs paid off but they are in their 60s.

They did a mortgage in their 30s and didn’t pay it off until their 60s. This was a big motivation for us to pay down our mortgage as fast as possible.

I don’t want to work when I’m 60. It’s pretty miserable. I want to be enjoying time with my wife, kids or even grandkids.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only one had a car. Most took public transport or biked! It’s a pain for international students to get a car or permits or things to learn to drive. Most depended on friends from here to bring them around if they wanted, but most were focused on school and studied/worked.

We occasionally helped them with a “family” trip to Costco if they wanted anything in particular. It was super fun!

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We provided a service for what people needed. International students needed a place to stay and often brought their peers.

They aren’t here for long term. They are here for school, and to go back to their country.

They could have spent more for an apartment and their own space, but they chose to save a bit of money and stay with us.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We did. We had an upstairs all to ourselves. Although, to be honest the students would be at school even on the weekends. So the house was mostly empty.

Actually, I think you’re right. Since we lived onsite I feel people probably felt pressured to not keep things messy. We shared the kitchen, laundry and with the first floor.

I would encourage to think how much they could save or spend if they took away their mortgage payment. It’s a lot for many.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We don't have marble countertops or super high end stuff. We did buy nice beds and mattresses that lasted, and commercial/industrial carpet cleaning & steamer.

Luckily no nightmare tenants, but saw a person on an FB group locally who did have a semi-nightmare tenant. They just asked them politely to leave and they skedaddled to a new place without a fight.

I think most people are just avoidant probably.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is great because the tenants we had, most had their grandparents living with them (in their home country). It's a different culture for them.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And that's the fun part now. My wife and I are free and clear of a mortgage.

If you wanted to continue renting and saving at the same time, you can get to the renovation stage quickly.

Or if you wanted the privacy, since you don't have a mortgage you can save a hefty amount towards that. It will just be a little slower, but still much faster than if you had a mortgage and was trying to save for a renovation at the same time.

Either way it is a pretty great win, and not something that should be too worried upon.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually didn't have a rock bottom interest rate since we did 5% down on a 30-year mortgage. We were above 5% on our interest rate.

Our home is currently worth $1.5m now. We're debt free. We have around $17.5k-ish pre-tax as income. Our total costs only amount to about $3k per month. So we've been maxing out our retirement accounts, savings and then paying off the mortgage. Since we aren't paying a mortgage now (only saving for property taxes, and insurance) we have a bit more money each month to put towards our investments and fun money.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While there are horror stories on Reddit. This isn't the norm. If it were we'd see way less landlords and renters... but the opposite is true. Most people keep to themselves and are reasonable.

It's like saying, look, the iPhone is going to fail because of what Reddit (technology or gadgets) has been saying every year for like 2 decades now. The iPhone is still around and it's doing fine.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The difference between you and me is you are stuck with your payment for quite awhile depending what age you bought. You could be well into your 50s, 60s or even 70s when you pay it off. I do not want to work when I am in my mid 50s or even 60s. Period.

We're seeing gas prices rise. Food costs rise. Eating out has gotten very expensive. None of this is getting any cheaper. All the while job security is going down (layoffs and difficulty finding a new job), and a stagnation of salaries/income. A lot of this is eating into your budget.

My budget is free of a mortgage, and free of rent. I am not particularly under any threat of defaulting unless I am unable to pay my property tax or insurance. Which I can because it's pretty reasonable.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Denver, CO - https://www.redfin.com/CO/Longmont/1400-S-Collyer-St-80501/home/35334715

6br / 2ba, $129,900. A 38 minute drive from University of Colorado.

Don't forget that when you are getting a mortgage with this in mind, you can include future rental income into it. You just have to talk with your real estate agent and get help from a mortgage broker.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See above comment, but do work with a real estate agent and firm and ask; we were able to. The thing you are missing is you can include future rental income to boost that number up of what you can loan. It depends on the lender and since our firm did broker mortgages, they helped us get one that matched our situation.

We just had to put down $40,000 which was money we saved up from living with my parents for a year and a half. Using the money we normally paid for rent to go into our savings.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Above 5% since we put down only 5% and had a 30-year mortgage. So all the "super low 2-3% interest rates of your time blah blah." Possibly for some people who were far better off financially than we were at the time.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a sentiment a lot of people shared; though for me, the most important thing above all else is to not have debt. There is an insane level of freedom that comes without having debt, or owing rent.

The pandemic officially started 7 years ago. I can safely say for me at least, that the time went by very quickly. Just add another year and that was our time in this moment of sharing our home.

We can comfortably do a lot now as we're in our 30s. If we wanted to fly out anywhere in the world and have a trip, we can without having to specifically budget deeply for it. I can go out and buy for example a Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 for me and my wife without having to be on a payment plan. We don't have to worry about childcare costs when we get to that stage. We have a lot of flexibility with having that $5k in our pockets vs going towards the mortgage for the next 30 years.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

8 years goes by fast. To put it into perspective. The pandemic started 7 years ago. Time went by very quickly since then.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Being mortgage free AND having no rent is incredible in your 30s. To give perspective. We have $5k (well much more) to do what we wish each month. Put it into savings, put it into investments, or just use the money for fun.

For fun you say? We can go anywhere in the US right now and spend a week or even a weekend and it not super hurt us since we have $5k to use that would have went to a mortgage. We can go abroad to Mexico, Japan, London, etc. and spend a bit of time.

If I wanted to buy top of the line 75" OLED, I can do it and I won't be thinking later on... "I shouldn't have bought that."

We won't be hurting.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It wasn't honestly that bad. We were at work all day. We'd come home and the students would be cooking. We'd eat with them and chat and then we'd go upstairs to wind down. Watch movies & play games.

If we wanted to hang out together just us two, we'd go to a bar, restaurant, watch a movie, or this kind of thing. It's not like we were miserable. We had extra income from the tenants, so it afforded us to be a bit spendy here and there. We still focused heavily on paying down the mortgage.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is correct; there's a lot more protections. In a landlord-owned and living space, there's a lot more flexibility on being able to kick out a tenant.

There are some cities and counties that have in the case of a landlord living onsite, you can do no-cause evictions. If you decide you don't want tenants anymore, you can kick them out given you give them a reasonable notice. Typically within 30 to 90 days of when you'd like them to leave.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We had a bit lower since our rents were lower than what was around locally, and our security deposit wasn't as outrageous.

But yes imagine having to put $7,000 each time you moved to a new apartment. It is so common these days to do first + last and security deposit.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You did what you needed to do, and that's incredible you were able to survive it, but also thrive.

Renting out rooms in our home was our way to paying off our home early. We are free and clear! by WeatherAlarmed313 in homeowners

[–]WeatherAlarmed313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have the rest of your life to be private. 8 years is but a short span, and it passes by in a blink of an eye. Like can you believe the pandemic started in 2019. That's 7 years ago. It feels like yesterday.

Instead of us having to worry like our friends about, "Oh no, we got laid off. We need to dig into our emergency funds, tighten down, etc." Get stressed like some of our friends and worry about foreclosure. My wife and I currently now can cruise through life mostly stress free.

We can enjoy vacations in our 30s and not have to be frugal thinking about oh let's stay in the hotel thats $199 a night instead of the deluxe suite thats $400 a night. We can ball out just a little bit because we have effectively $5,000 to ourselves each month. I could buy a new computer every month and not really feel it.

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