stanimal21 t1_jefzuah wrote on March 31, 2023 at 7:04 PM

You just experienced the major downside of investing in property when you don't have enough liquid assets to cover unexpected expenses: you have to sell the entire property to get your money out. If you have no liquidity, then that's the position you're in. Remember, there are other ways to invest besides property that are very lucrative, a standard brokerage account and an S&P 500 Index fund being one of them. The benefit is you can sell some of your investments instead of the entire thing to get some cash out.

I would sell the property and put the proceeds (minus what you pay in taxes), into a brokerage account. No debt on that investment either. Pretty big plus.

babyspout OP t1_jegdni9 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 8:36 PM

Thanks for the comment. I definitely need to diversify and I plan to do so when I sell the house, but truth be told at the time I just didn't have enough money to meaningfully invest in the S&P. I bought this house when I was 22 with around $1,200 of my own money all-in (closing costs and a roof repair) and the house itself has been smooth sailing ever since -- it's losing our main stream of income earlier than we were anticipating that has put us tight. But you're totally right, we should be much more liquid at this point.

With that said, I'm definitely going to look into Index funds, I appreciate your input.

stanimal21 t1_jegijip wrote on March 31, 2023 at 9:09 PM

>I just didn't have enough money to meaningfully invest in the S&P

The minimum to invest in the Fidelity 500 Index Fund is $0:

https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911750

babyspout OP t1_jeh57sv wrote on March 31, 2023 at 11:56 PM

I used the modifier "meaningful" just to say I didn't have enough to produce any significant amount. I definitely could've put my $1,200 into the S&P but if I did I certainly wouldn't have $100,000 right now.

I'm not disagreeing with your sentiment, just saying that given my financial situation + real estate knowledge at the time it made a lot of sense to buy the house rather than put my money in the stock market.