Home buying thread
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Most of it is wooded. The owner has 2 more 10 acre plots that I would buy if could afford it.
Tmac
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Buy 30 acres of timberland and you've got a decent investment that will see 7% - 9% ROI, just in the timber.
Joeboo
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Also curious about that. I'm sure it has to vary greatly depending on where you are geographically. I'm due to inherit a couple hundred acres of 99% wooded land when my father passes away, but theres really very little commercial logging done around here that I know of.
Tmac
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Well, to answer this simply, it has this value because the market dictates that it does. The timber market generally fluctuates in parallel to the housing market. Timber is about a $30b annually in Georgia which holds about 15% of the market in the U.S. We (The U.S.) also export a LOT of wood to developing markets like China and India. Plus, timber is sustainable, so once you cut it down, you can just replant it and in 20 years, boom, another forest.
There are also lots of products that are made using wood, from normal stuff like houses and furniture to things you'd never think about like toothpaste or clothing. A couple of mills, in south Georgia, were just bought for a few hundred million and are being redesigned to handle some of these newer products.
To give you an idea of value, it's not unusual to see upwards of $100,000 worth of timber (if it's healthy) on 100 acres of land in Georgia.
My business targets people who are looking to manage their timber and educate those who aren't, because managing your timber (thinning/burning/clear-cutting/replanting) can add up to 20% ROI on your timber.
There's a whole lot that I could add to this, so feel free to ask more questions and I'll elaborate.
What price per acre are you talking to see 7%? I would really like to hear a full run down on buying 50 acres or so
Tmac
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Way more than 50 acres. If you lived in the Southeast you could generate some good money from planting pine on 50 acres.
You could easily find some good natural growth timberland, cut $50k of timber off of it, use that money to pay off the land, prep the soil, and replant some high quality seedlings. Then thin at 12-15 years for a small income ($350+/acre), and then do a final harvest at 28 years for $2k/acre for a total of $117,500+ theoretical dollars.
The thing with timberland though, is that most people do absolutely nothing with it. They just leave it there and expect it to produce top dollar. It will certainly bring home the bacon, but not the $2k per acre that if you manage.
I post timber prices on my site, but in GA you'll see like $10 - $15 per ton for Pine Pulpwood and upwards of $40 per ton for Pine Hardwood. You'll be growing the latter if you prep your soil, plant the good stuff and do some minimal management.
Vinen
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Must be nice to not have to put an offer down the minute a house pops on the Market....
In the process of working towards closing on a property in MA. We had less then 4 or 5 hours to get an offer in after the houses first Open House. Speaking of which, if you are planning on buying a house 6 months out or so... consolidate your bank accounts... it will make shit sooooo much easier. Wife and I have around 10 Bank Accounts and it's making it a pain in the ass with the Broker/Underwriter.
I didn't want to start a new thread entirely for my questions.I'm buying a new house/car with a new income and I don't know what is safe to buy.
Just got out of the Army after 4 1/2 years Active duty, age 22. I'm going from a 34,455 a year income (tax returns, 2012) to a $45 an hour (100k a year) job. The new job gives me benefits in addition to my salary such as 25% of my income is added into an investment portfolio that I maintain 100% control of (in addition to my income), 6k a year in healthcare (cash), 3.6k in communication (laptops,cellphone) and 100% job security. The job is contracting for the NSA and the company owners are my parents, so it's a very stable job.
The houses I'm looking at buying with a VA home loan are in the 300k-350k range, is that too much or too little ? It's just my wife and I right now. I'd prefer not to rent anymore.
The cars I'm looking at are around 25-35k, one for myself and eventually one for my wife. I need a car that gets better gas mileage than my 05 Pontiac GTO. I will be traveling 90 miles round trip daily.
Zipcode would be 21666, around Annapolis Maryland.
Just got out of the Army after 4 1/2 years Active duty, age 22. I'm going from a 34,455 a year income (tax returns, 2012) to a $45 an hour (100k a year) job. The new job gives me benefits in addition to my salary such as 25% of my income is added into an investment portfolio that I maintain 100% control of (in addition to my income), 6k a year in healthcare (cash), 3.6k in communication (laptops,cellphone) and 100% job security. The job is contracting for the NSA and the company owners are my parents, so it's a very stable job.
The houses I'm looking at buying with a VA home loan are in the 300k-350k range, is that too much or too little ? It's just my wife and I right now. I'd prefer not to rent anymore.
The cars I'm looking at are around 25-35k, one for myself and eventually one for my wife. I need a car that gets better gas mileage than my 05 Pontiac GTO. I will be traveling 90 miles round trip daily.
Zipcode would be 21666, around Annapolis Maryland.
Tmac
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It looks like there are a lot of foreclosures around there. Have you thought about buying up something with the intention of renting it out long-term? The one's I looked at seem pretty big for just the two of you (3 br, 2 ba), unless you guys plan on popping out a bunch of babies. Since you're so young, my inclination would be to buy something smaller on a 15 year loan, pay it off quickly and then grow my assets by buying another larger house if it becomes necessary and renting out
If you buy new, know that it loses value as soon as you drive off the lot... Personally, I couldn't justify buying something new/expensive that's going to constantly lose value.
Buy a used Accord/Camry or something that has a history of retaining it's value really well.
Falstaff
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Joeboo
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My wife and I are probably about the same. We were both in our 30s when we got married, and had seperate banks. So I had a checking and 2 savings accounts + a credit card with the bank, she had the same with a different bank, and now we have joint ones as well. So yeah, probably 10 or 11 different accounts for us across 2 different banks.
Works for us, we each pool a certain amount of money into the joint accounts to cover bills and expenses(food, joint entertainment, etc), then we still each have our separate money that we can do with as we please without any scrutiny from the other.
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Did we have this discussion in another thread? I feel like we did. Married people with separate accounts, specifically so they can't see what you're buying, seems like a huge trust issue. She can still see that you're getting a new cell phone every year and doesn't need a bank account record to verify it. Unless you're Haus' wife. No idea how she hid all of that from him.
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Yeah, I agree Deathwing. Seems like something is off if you must have a separate bank account to do with what you please so you dont piss off your mate. Most of the purchases are fully agreed upon by both of us since the money belongs to both of us. I have nothing to hide from my wife and neither does she. If I want something or if she want something we discuss it like adults and come to a decision. This of course is on bigger purchases of $200 or more, not small piddly ones.
Although I do have a buddy that has a wife with a spending problem. And he does have to hide his money because if he did not she would spend it all on shit. But that would be the only reason to hide money IMO, to protect it from someone which cannot be trusted and is destructive with their spending.
Although I do have a buddy that has a wife with a spending problem. And he does have to hide his money because if he did not she would spend it all on shit. But that would be the only reason to hide money IMO, to protect it from someone which cannot be trusted and is destructive with their spending.
Vinen
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Its less to do with that and more to do with separating our play money.
Our main issue is that we started switching banks this year... and never finished it. So we were left with the following
4 Personal Checking
4 Personal Saving
1 Joint Checking
2 Joint Saving
My wife also has a house she is in the process of trying to sell...
Joeboo
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Yeah, it's not a trust issue so much as just a simplicity issue. I have my money, I spend it at will. If everything was joint, I'd feel a bit like I'd need to run fairly large purchases by my wife, since I'd be using her money as well. It's not that I'm buying anything that I hide from her at all, it's just that if I'm at a store and decide I want to drop a few hundred dollars on something stupid, I don't have to think twice about it. She never asks me how much my "toys" (computer stuff, video games, electronics, etc) cost, and I never ask her about shoes or new pictures or whatever. There's no overlap or the possibility of stepping on someones toes.
Not to mention, neither of us religiously balance the checkbook, I always just have a running rough idea of how much is in my checking, and how much I've spent lately. That would be hard to do without jacking it up if two people were spending indiscriminately out of 1 account without telling the other person what they were spending. I mean, we don't have so much money that I don't have to keep track of spending, but we also aren't pinching every penny to get by. A "rough idea" give or take a few hundred bucks is always fine.
Not to mention, neither of us religiously balance the checkbook, I always just have a running rough idea of how much is in my checking, and how much I've spent lately. That would be hard to do without jacking it up if two people were spending indiscriminately out of 1 account without telling the other person what they were spending. I mean, we don't have so much money that I don't have to keep track of spending, but we also aren't pinching every penny to get by. A "rough idea" give or take a few hundred bucks is always fine.
Vinen
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Trust issue.
It's not your money and her money. It's your, you and her, money. You totally should feel guilty about dropping a few hundred on a stupid purchase. Just because it came out of a separate account from your paycheck doesn't mean it's ok. How do you two agree to buy something that both of you want? Or something the baby needs? Where does the money come from? How is it split it up? Equal from both accounts, or based on who has more money? That last one can cause serious issues either way you go.
And not having a budget is an excuse, not a reason. With a kid, you should have long term goals well beyond the loose sums you're doing in your head. Those big repairs to the house and car 10 months ago factor into your play purchases? Because they should.
Just admit it for what it is. You guys buy stupid shit and you don't want your wives calling you on it. And furthermore, the separate accounts help obfuscate the possible financial impact a purchase like that might have.
BTW, balancing a checkbook, keeping a budget, whatever you want to call it, is really easy. I admit you have to get over a large mental hurdle of trusting a website or program with your bank login info. But after that, you can easily track purchases from multiple accounts. After initial setup akin to tracking calories, it's smooth sailing. I login every few days, check to see if there are any weird purchases, and then update my spreadsheet budget. Takes all of 5 minutes.
Vinen
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Or we have both have near equal incomes and already input equal amount into various savings/checking accounts for joint needs.