When Adulting Is Easy was first launched, we talked about our real estate story. We haven’t done any updates in a while (except here and there on Twitter), so I wanted to give a quick update.
St. Petersburg Duplex: Purchased in October 2019 for $170,000 cash, we own a block, side-by-side duplex about a mile from downtown St. Pete. We had some rough times during Covid from a rent perspective. Due to rapid appreciation, we decided to list this property in early 2021, and went under contract for $250,000. Unfortunately, the buyers found some termites in the laundry room during inspection (note that this is very normal in Florida). We had it tented, though, so that’s taken care of. Up next, we’re putting on a new roof because the previous owners put on a bad roof only 8 years ago. We’ll have a decision to make whether we want to sell it or not after that, and what we’ll do with the proceeds if we do.
Tarpon Springs B&B: Purchased in June 2020 for $285,000, Aric and I are house hacking a bed and breakfast, living in the main house and renting the two cottages in the back. We also have hookups for the camper, so we rent that, too. We spent the second half of 2020 renovating this property for about $160,000. We did a cash-out refinance in January to get most of that cash back out. Even with the increased payment, the property pays for itself.
Hudson Duplex: Using the cash from our re-fi on the B&B, we are currently under contract to purchase a partially owner-occupied townhouse-style duplex on the water in Hudson, Florida, for $385,000. We’re actually planning to move into one side to get a taste for living on the water, as it’s only about 20 minutes north from Tarpon Springs.
Although real estate is the investment class most discussed by Adulting Is Easy, through the blogs and podcasts, my husband and I invest in the stock market as well. Not counting our camper, going forward we will have 6 units, plus one that we’re living in. Since I basically handle these investments, and given my full-time job, we will have a decision to make soon: do we want to buy more real estate or work to pay off the B&B and Hudson duplex and invest all of our savings into stocks going forward? Our vision for some time now has been to have real estate income pay our monthly bills in early retirement and use the 4% rule to pay for the rest from our stock portfolio, and some rough calculations indicate 6 units may be enough. Whatever the case, we’ll keep updating you with our progress and real estate holdings.