Yep I know the feelings, been mortgage-free since Oct 1997
When I did have mortgage, they were 15 year Mortgages
& (Like Cranky did) I'd pay a lil' more on each payment, $100 or more
to go to principal, not just interest (takes up most) paid everything off in 20 years...
1st place was in Antioch, $33k, damn near brand new house,
Under the '
peanut farmer', I was 18 in 1977
@ 14% interest rates, were a crime on humanity
2nd place was in my hometown Concord
$95k a fixer-upper/rancher, I org. bought to fix & flip
I ended up living in it for 5+ years
I sold them both for way, way over what I initially paid,
3 times for the place in Antioch
& 2 times as much for the place in Concord (Old ranch house 1951)
while renting the other 1 out, most of that time, for a couple hundred $$s
over my payment for both of them...
Bought a place in Turtle Creek an upscale part of Concord, $225K (IIRC)
like 1990 (?)
sold that for $455k in Aug. 1997 (it's worth like $1.8 Million now
)
I paid cash for my place/duplex in Rancho Murieta CC South
(Eastern Sac. County)
a 2bd 2 bath 2 car garage/attached & a 3 bed 2.5 bath 3 car garage,
with the profits from my House in Turtle Creek...
I rented out one side for 10 years, same people, an older couple always on time,
all the time I was living down there...
Paid for any expenses I incurred, to live there at the Country Club & golf...
I did well in my place/s in Concord, I bought in the right area at the right time
doubled or damn near ultimately 12+ times my original investments/values
from 1977-1997
Bought my place up here 2005, after selling dad's A-frame cabin upcountry
for $334k
(my granddad, dad's father financed/paid cash for him, dad paid him for $51k org. 1980)
I had to take another $150k out of the bank
& replaced that with the proceeds from my place/s, in RMCC sold in Nov. 2007...
I highly recommend it if you can pull it off today...
It's not easy, but getting ahead in later life never is, you have to have a plan...
Young people may not be able to afford real property now...
Trickle up economics under, well you know who...
Unless they work at McD's & get $20 an/hr for flipping burgers
They may afford a lil' crack shack like I bought in Concord & fix it up...
It was my way to get ahead and sacrifice some of my youth,
for my future...
My 1st House I bought (Antioch $33k I had just turned 18) on $6.14 an hr,
went to JC, while working for PG&E & later as a Carpenter apprentice,
working for a shitty termite repair co. doing shitty work, under/in houses,
in Hayward/Oakland/Montclair Ca. area...
(Co. owner was an F/C racer, he understood my passion & gave me time off to pursue it)
It was tough at 1st but I managed & I still built cars & drag-raced a lot...
Then I went off to school, I had a bunch more debt, to have to pay later
while renting my places out...
Many places in between too, fixer uppers, to help feed my drag racing addiction...
Just didn't get to go out & party like most all my friends all did,
while still living at/in their parents' house/s...
I never had that option, my 18th BD or my graduation present,
I was still 17 until July 77' was
Samsonite Luggage...
My parents were moving north, dad sold the ranch, bitch stepmother
became a School Psychologist, after years of my dad putting her thru school
they moved for her career, he sold his business & everything he owned...
(she left him 2 years later,
for her old HS sweetheart, lived in the same area)
I didn't want to go anyway & still would have had to pay them for room & board...
Wally's
$1.25
View attachment 1572479
Hard to believe this place has survived two divorces! Been here 40 years this coming April and wish my dad was still around.
