3 Reasons Why You Should Be Thinking as an Investor when Purchasing your Primary Residence
For as long as I can remember the American dream has been centered behind homeownership. It has for a while been seen as the biggest and most important investment that an American will make. It wasn’t until recently younger generations have been introduced to the idea that your primary residence could be discribed as a liability and the introduction to the Rat Race.
Being a creative thinker and self-proclaimed “Problem Solver” I fall in the middle of these two extremes. I believe a home is a great asset if purchased correctly. The approach of a traditional home buyer and investor is different, sentiment vs logic. Sentimental buyer is driven by the emotions of want and investors are driving by value. I believe if buyers who are more sentimental took an investor’s approach with the vision and patience to make something their own it would be pretty hard to lose.
With that in mind here are the reasons why you should be thinking like an investor instead of trying to attain the American dream...
TIME.
The biggest variable in the world, however, based on the data we can reasonably expect to live until we are 80 or so. Of course, the data changes as you get more specific but none the less most people reading this article have some time… So I ask, what makes the most sense to have somethings while struggling to have it or going without, sacrificing and delaying gratification in the moment to have everything you want comfortably over a longer period of time. No brainer if you ask me! If you use your primary residence as an investment opportunity and pass up on some of the wants you can build wealth quicker by forcing appreciation in your home allowing you also to be able to see a return on your investment sooner. Building your net worth will allow you to have that dream lifestyle the way its meant to be lived sooner as well.
BARRIER OF ENTRY
Remember that American dream we spoke of earlier??? Well, that same dream helped shape some of the banking structure as it relates to homeownership. Have you heard of FHA loans? Programs like this were created to help citizens achieve their dream of homeownership. Programs like FHA have looser credit requirements and less upfront capital. What many people don’t know is that these programs are available on duplex, triplexes, and quadplexes… That 2 doors, 3 doors, 4 doors. This allows you to become a property owner and business owner all at once. Many times when you are doing investment property that isn’t your primary residence it will require stronger credit and more upfront capital.
MAXIMIZE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN
Treating it like an investment will force you to stay locked in and engaged. When you know that major money is at stake you tend to pay attention a little more than you would when you are fantasizing about granite countertops! If you do this process and really learn it you can do it twice, three times, or an infinite amount of times, just need to be intentional about learning all that you can!