I dont know what to do with my debts.

**Seeker** · 11-01-2009, 07:48 PM

Without a complete budget, we cannot advise you.

If your rentals pay their own way, then it's probably not a good idea to do anything at this point in time with them.

If all or most of your income is going toward all your bills however, then there's a problem in that regard. We'd need to see what your income is, and where it goes each month... breakdowns (not only the housing portion of it).

Why is BF saving "ruining" your relationship? You know that you have not saved and you want to change.... those are both positives in my eyes.

**paymydebt** · 11-01-2009, 10:43 PM

From what you have indicated, it doesn't look to be you are in that bad of a position. Because basically the rental properties you own are paying for themself and real estate is still a good investment...you just have to wait until prices go up again before you sell. And seems you have enough income to cover your own mortgage and I am gathering your other expenses. I can't see why your BF would think bad of you for investing in real estate, which in a hot market can pay off big time. It's not like you went on a big shopping spree and had nothing to show for it.

Most people take a long time before they are mortgage-free and don't always use their own money for investment purposes either. I would just say hang in there, wait for market conditions to improve and then you will be saying the opposite.

**CCFREEDOM** · 11-02-2009, 06:40 AM

thank you for your advise....I feel very uncomfortable with my boyfriend because he has done things so different from me...like the opposite. I have taken risks and he hasnt so he has paid off his mortgage and has a good retirement.

We are both in our mid-50's and I keep thinking that by the time real estate goes up again..it'll be a long time so I am stuck with these houses. I have regrets over that selling when the market was good or when I bought my present home 4 years ago..I could have sold my other house for about $600-650,000. Now its barely worth about $350,000 or $400,000. barely what I owe. I dont know if real estate will ever get that high again.

I will look into my other debts and list them here. Some I am not paying any interest on and have used for business only when my business is slow and I need to pay something major. I am trying very hard to pay off, but this year both my houses were vacant for a couple of months and one tenant nearly destroyed my house and I had to make major repair.

Will come back later...thank you so much for your encouragement.

**CCFREEDOM** · 11-02-2009, 06:40 AM

sorry...regrets over NOT SELLING when the market was good.

**wincrasher** · 11-02-2009, 08:47 AM

Wow. I'm amazed that you got such a work-out considering you otherwise wouldn't have qualified under any means testing scenario.

I don't think that your income properties will ever give you a return on your investment. With the interest you are paying, even with a run-up in the value and yearly increases in rent, you will cover all your costs.

You should make sure your tax situation is straight on these. You should be able to depreciate these assets and deduct all your costs to offset any income, plus some income from your business. All your rebuilding costs from your tenant could also be deductable expense.

**buildmybudget** · 11-02-2009, 08:58 AM

I think you may be putting too much pressure on yourself. You have an excellent income which can go a long way towards helping you improve your financial situation. You need a cash forecast so you can see exactly where all of your money is going and when you are required to spend it each month. That way you can see where you might run into cash flow problems, or find extra cash you can put towards your debt. This is the only way to see how much extra you have each month...and if you're not satisfied with the number you can start cutting expenses.

**ceejay74** · 11-02-2009, 09:40 AM

I agree with what's been said. Take the mortgages out of the equation for now; your two rentals are covering themselves, so just let them ride and don't worry about them. Your current home has a big mortgage but a fantastic interest rate for the next few years, and $1700 is a really reasonable housing payment for someone with your level of income, so nothing to worry about or be ashamed of there.

You reference some other debts, so I would focus in on those. Try to reduce some of your discretionary spending so you can eliminate whatever other debts you have, and when you are debt-free except your mortgages, start socking away retirement money and other savings. You should be able to build up a nice nest egg with the amount of income you have coming in, once you don't have any debt payments besides your mortgage.

Good luck!

**CCFREEDOM** · 11-02-2009, 11:03 AM

wincrasher...I did get a really good work out on my mortgage loan. I didnt even have to apply. I got this letter from WAMU telling me I could apply for this..that I was one the the 15,000 customers they chose to do this for. I thought they were kidding me and that there was a catch..but nope..Payments are $2079 and about $1753.00 goes towards principal.

Ok..I will work on the numbers for my other balances and post them.

**lovcom** · 11-02-2009, 11:23 AM

CCFreedom, I was once in your situation. With working lots of overtime and staying on a budget, and bringing in roommates to offset part of my mortgage monthly payment, I got on track and things got better. I know, you hate the thought of roommates...me too, but there was a time bringing in three others into my 4 bedroom home paid off.

Perhaps you can rent out your house and move in with the BF or cheapo studio for a few years?

Aggressively save, save, save....things will get better...sound like your BF is a luck guy, BUT most successful men will never marry a woman with messy finances...and the GOOD NEWS is that your case is a lot better then others, so it's not terrible....it's a little mess not a big one....

I was dating a physician who brought in $14,000 net a month, but her financial life was ten times worse then yours, and the short story is that I left her because she had 6 figure credit card debt, 6 figure student loans, and she was severely upside down on 7 rentals in Florida, only 3 having tenents....she is now in bankruptcy....I have no regrets for leaving her...but your situation is not as bad as you might think...you have a lot of hope!!!

**CCFREEDOM** · 11-02-2009, 01:23 PM

Thank you Lovcom.

I got to work today and set up 2 budgets..one for home and one for business.

My business expenses are roughly $2500.00 (that is including $800.00 savings.

I want to start paying myself $5,000 per month for my salary..and that is being discipline in paying each week so that I have a flow of money in my checking account for my personal expenses. So if I make about $10,000 per month, have $2500 in business expenses, and $5,000 in salary to myself, I have $2500.00 left over to pay credit cards.

Here are my credit cards.

Balances Interest Payments
Chase $ 14,215 6% $433
Discover 4545 20% 111
Bof A 8111 4.75 200
US Bank 2956 25% 94
CHASE car payment 9474 8% 361
Ciitibusiness 10586 0% 125
Wells Fargo 4985 17.25% 79
Wamu 960 18% 50

The Discovery & US bank accounts are fairly..its what I used to cover the expenses to fix the rental. I was on track in paying off Wells Fargo and went from $10,000 the begining of the year to now.

The WAMU is my overdraft account which I pay monthly on my personal account.

So I guess I would have to concentrate on paying off Discovery and US Bank and getting rid of those cards. But now I have property taxes coming up so wont be able to pay much on anything.

Please tell me what you suggest I do. I cant move in with the boyfriend at all for religious reasons...and I tried renting to roomate before and it was a disaster.. If my boyfriend accepts me the way things are right now..we may get married next year....but would he want all these responsibilities if he has already paid off his mortgage and had planned his life a certain way? We get along well otherwise except when the conversation is about finances..then I get scared.

**CCFREEDOM** · 11-02-2009, 01:41 PM

This is probably better to understand.

Balances/ Interest/ Payments

Chase $ 14,215/ 6% /$433
Discover $ 4545/ 20%/$111
Bof A $8111/ 4.75%/$200
US Bank $2956/ 25%/ $94
CHASE car payment $9474/ 8% /$361
Ciitibusiness $10586/ 0%/$125
Wells Fargo $4985/ 17.25% /$79
Wamu $960/ 18% /$50 (pay off each month)

**buildmybudget** · 11-02-2009, 01:58 PM

At a glance this looks to be about 60-70k and at approximately 5k/mth you can pay this off in a relatively short year to year and a half. This situation is very doable if toucan stick to your budget and manage your cash flow. Take the Dave Ramsey approach and start paying off your cc's lowest to highest. You'll gain momentum and before you know it will be out of debt. You can do it!!

**Seeker** · 11-02-2009, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by lovcom View Post

CCFreedom, I was once in your situation. With working lots of overtime and staying on a budget, and bringing in roommates to offset part of my mortgage monthly payment, I got on track and things got better. I know, you hate the thought of roommates...me too, but there was a time bringing in three others into my 4 bedroom home paid off.

Perhaps you can rent out your house and move in with the BF or cheapo studio for a few years?

Aggressively save, save, save....things will get better...sound like your BF is a luck guy, BUT most successful men will never marry a woman with messy finances...and the GOOD NEWS is that your case is a lot better then others, so it's not terrible....it's a little mess not a big one....

I was dating a physician who brought in $14,000 net a month, but her financial life was ten times worse then yours, and the short story is that I left her because she had 6 figure credit card debt, 6 figure student loans, and she was severely upside down on 7 rentals in Florida, only 3 having tenents....she is now in bankruptcy....I have no regrets for leaving her...but your situation is not as bad as you might think...you have a lot of hope!!!

CC Freedom.... I'd have to disagree with the above. I was in my 40's, when I happily married a man whom had no money, had been through a BK, and had education debts on top of a "leased" car (because no one would give him a loan) and no way to pay any of it. No assets of his own because of a totalled auto and lost work, jobs, and outsourcing.

Love can conquer everything if you're both 100% honest and open with each other. NOBODY else can speak for your relationship with your BF; I seriously suggest talking with him about your finances (be 100% truthful), and seeing for yourself if it's truely "you" he loves or the "money" he's saved.

If your financial situation "diminishes" your relationship, you need to find out now before investing any more time with him.

**wincrasher** · 11-03-2009, 04:08 AM

All relationships are based on trust. Hiding things about yourself is creating a weak foundation for a long term relationship. If your relationship is based on more than just a facade, then he should be understanding of your situation.

Generally speaking, people's finances are largely indicative of their personalities. So it may not be the big surprise to tell him that you think.

I dont know what to do with my debts.