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Post by houstonsandy on Jan 21, 2021 20:25:47 GMT
Over the past few weeks I have come to the conclusion that I may very well need to sell my house before summer's end.
Due to the Covid situation, my main source of income (hosting international students) is in jeopardy.
I really need to host three students to support myself comfortably. Last year one graduated and due to travel restrictions, a replacement for her was unable to come over from her country. (They are allowing new students to study remotely from their home countries this year...this is not typically allowed).
So this year I only had two girls. It has been a struggle with the reduced income.
I ended up having to do mortgage forbearance, which will end in July. At the end of that time I will arrange for the amount deferred to be tacked on to the end of my loan.
By doing the forbearance, I have been able to put aside around $6000 so far to get me through the summer months that I am (for all intents and purposes) unemployed since I am an hourly employee at a school mid-Aug to May only. I get to work a whole 8 a week during the summer...pttttt! Also, there is no hosting in June, July and half of August.
Another one of my girls will be graduating in May. That will only leave one girl guaranteed still with me for next year. No one knows if any of the new students will be coming over in the fall and if not, then I am sunk.
My dd will graduate college in May, but we still have to pay her apartment rent through August. She has been pre-offered a job in Dallas with the company she interned with after she graduates.
She is also applying to other companies in both Dallas and Austin. Hopefully I can take her off my payroll as of June or July, but I will still be in financial trouble if I cannot get two more girls to host.
Thus, I have sadly come to the conclusion that I will most likely need to sell my home by the end of July.
My delima, however, is what to do for a place to live.
If I plan to stay in the same general area so that I can host the one girl and continue to work at my school job, then renting around here will be just as much (or even more) as my mortgage is. (and the houses available for lower than my mortgage are very, very sad and outdated compared to my house...sigh).
The only thing would be that I would have some money from the sale of my house to supplement my income with. Not gobs of money...probably only about $30,000. That would make up for the amount of income I would lose by not hosting the additional two girls, plus a bit more. And I would not be paying my dd's rent anymore.
I was looking online for cheaper places to live. I could move to a different town and the rents would be much cheaper...but I would lose both my school job and my hosting job.
I did find some towns with job openings in their school districts that I would be a good fit for.
I am thinking of just tossing out some resumes and see if anything comes of that.
But can I just pick up and move to a different unknown town? Not knowing anyone? That is scary to me....
Another option was brought up by my daughter.
She wants me to move in with her (and her boyfriend, lol) wherever they end up. They want to rent a house. They have a tiny one bedroom now, so very minimal furniture. I would supply all the furnishings, washer/dryer ect. and we would look for a place where we could all have our own "space"..... I told her that was probably a crazy idea, but we are still considering it.
It would make the most financial sense for all of us actually....especially if I could find a job as well. The rent would be split three ways, making it much more affordable for everyone.
This would not be a long term deal. Two years at the very most. I still have a year and a half of quarterly payments to make to the damn ex to finish paying off his half of the equity I owe him for all of the property we owned together when we divorced that I kept (house and furnishings).
Houses in my neighborhood have been selling so fast! Like, within a week or less. It is really shocking. I see the sign go up and just a few days later they slap a sale pending sign over it. My house is the only new house (two years old). The rest of the homes were built in the 70's and 80's. I don't doubt it would sell easily... so now I'm trying to sort out when I should put it on the market if I do decide to sell. I would very likely need to be able to move rather quickly.
But what if I was able to get more students to host after all? Then I could keep my house. But how long should I wait to find out?
Ugh! I stay awake at night playing out all the different scenarios.
Selling my house would be the last resort, but at what point does it become that?
I am at such a loss for what to do!
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psiluvu
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,217 
Location: Canada's Capital
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Post by psiluvu on Jan 21, 2021 20:41:49 GMT
What if you forget about the borders and get a different full time job that pays enough to cover the bills. Without your "girls" you would have the flexibility to work regular hours.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,759
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jan 21, 2021 20:45:36 GMT
Are you still planning to be hosting in the years to come or do you want to stop within x years?
It reads as if your plans are reactive rather than headed towards a planned finish, even if you get slightly rerouted along the way.
Make a one year, five, ten year plan. Will what you are contemplating help or hinder those plans?
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Post by Neisey on Jan 21, 2021 21:04:48 GMT
Can you take in a boarder or a roommate? Get a part-time job on the weekends? Short term pain for long term gain.
I hear you on selling to downsize or rent. I may as well keep my large house that is nearly paid off. To buy another home or rent something of similar standards would cost me more with today’s market.
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Post by rst on Jan 21, 2021 21:04:49 GMT
Is it an option to consider renting your house for a couple of years? If renting it paid the mortgage plus some, it might be a short term plan. If it worked out to live with your DD and her BF for a couple of years, you could do that but have your home to return to.
I don't know if the layout of your house would work for it, but students are not the only options for hosting. If you can create enough boundaries for your comfort, you could consider other options-- traveling nurses, airbnb (as a single woman you can specify women guests only). Or you could consider offering a respite space for seniors who need some care, but don't require nursing -- that's a highly sought after thing among families who care for loved ones at home, but need an occasional break.
If you know that you need to sell your house in the next x number of years, and this is just looking at making that move sooner rather than later, then that's one thing. But if you really don't want to sell, look at some other ways to make it work.
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Post by katlady on Jan 21, 2021 21:13:47 GMT
Can your daughter and her BF move in with you? Or are they not looking to stay in Houston?
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Post by cmpeter on Jan 21, 2021 21:22:43 GMT
Are there other college students you could host?
What about renting those rooms on airbnb?
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Post by mikewozowski on Jan 21, 2021 21:40:32 GMT
where is your house located? would it be desirable to other shorter term renters?
sounds like the international student guaranteed income is not much of a guarantee anymore, so you can now get a full time job. nobody can pay a mortgage on a part time school helper wage.
i can't imaging that living with DD and boyfriend would work out that well. maybe it sounds good, but i don't think it would be as easy as you think unless you had totally detached living spaces. heck, my nephew and his GF moved in with my other nephew and his GF and they can't even make that work. my daughter lives with me now (she's 28) and it is a bit stressful because she doesn't contribute to the upkeep (put away the hand wash dishes) and leaves her clean laundry on the kitchen table for too long if i don't say something to her. it is there now and i am wondering how long she will leave it if i don't say something. currently it has been there a week (or maybe more.)
if i were you i would look for a full time job and see if that works out. you can't guess when the int'l students will be allowed back or if they will want to come back. how many hours do you do at the school?
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Post by AussieMeg on Jan 21, 2021 21:49:46 GMT
Personally I would be doing whatever I could to keep my house. I know a couple of people (one single woman and one family of four) who each sold their house for one reason or another, with the intention of buying another house down the track. But now they are completely priced out of the housing market and will never be able to buy again due to their ages and the high housing costs. They've pretty much ruined their financial futures. And the silly thing is, each of them is paying more in rent than what I pay on my mortgage.
I realise that keeping your house may not be possible, but I'd be doing whatever I could to keep it.
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tracylynn
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,860
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Post by tracylynn on Jan 21, 2021 21:53:20 GMT
If you plan on staying in the same location you are at, I wouldn't sell your house. You said the rent would be equal to your mortgage. Figure out how to make it work until the International Borders work out again. Maybe a short term/collage age room renter or something.
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Post by librarylady on Jan 21, 2021 21:55:32 GMT
Can your daughter and her BF move in with you? Or are they not looking to stay in Houston? This, if possible.
If not, could/would you take in an adult roommate? At one time Catholic services tried to match up women who needed a roommate...such as a driver if one of the women didn't drive. If you really, really want to stay in the area, expand your horizons. Perhaps a nearby church has a member who needs a roommate...
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Post by ntsf on Jan 21, 2021 21:55:37 GMT
I would look at room mates..or airbnb..
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Post by librarylady on Jan 21, 2021 21:57:34 GMT
Is there a seminary nearby? I know someone who rented space to a couple while one of them attended seminary--she felt like her chances of getting someone honest and with a respectable value system increased with a seminary student.
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Post by workingclassdog on Jan 21, 2021 21:57:40 GMT
Rent out the other rooms if you can find some good people. If you really want to keep the house. Or what about a part time job in the evenings? I worked at a local grocery store and it didn't pay that badly and I actually kinda liked it. If I didn't have my youngest at home, I still might be there...
Houses here sound similar to your area.. you can sell for way over the asking price but you won't be able to buy nothing or rent. My house is a small duplex that can sell for almost for $300... I couldn't find a decent house in that price range.
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Post by houstonsandy on Jan 21, 2021 22:34:56 GMT
I should have mentioned that I am 63 years old...will be 64 in June. Finding jobs will be tricky at best as it is, let alone factoring in my age.
As horrible as this sounds, I just need to keep afloat until my mom (who will be 92 in a couple of months) passes. I will be very financially secure then...sigh.
I have asked her for financial help in the past (she can very well afford it) but that only causes issues with my brother that I would rather not have to deal with.
I don't really want to make Houston home the rest of my life...probably no more than 7 to 10 more years. Too much traffic and I don't want to deal with it anymore. I do plan to move at some point in the future to be close to my daughter when she settles down and has kids. But there is no telling where/when that may be.
Their goal is to end up in Colorado.
Although there are colleges in Houston, I am not close enough to one for any college renters to want to stay here. I am way out in the suburbs...and hour drive at least from campuses.
I am working 35 hours a week (7 hrs/day). The extra hours to make it full time would not make me more than a student does. I get around $1300.00 a month per student.
I thought about renting out my house while I rent someplace cheaper. What scares me about that, though, is if I got someone who did not pay their rent for a month or two, or if it sat unrented for any period of time, how would I make the mortgage payment? I wouldn't have enough in savings to make me feel confident enough to be able to pay rent and a mortgage payment if I had to for very long. Sounds too risky to me right now.
As far as having other renters or air bnb people staying here,that would be against our HOA rules. The students are allowed because I am their legal guardian.
To get another full time job to replace my school job and the girls I would have to find one that pays like $33/hr! I just don't see that happening...lol
Honestly, being a host parent is the easiest way to make the most money...COVID just happened to make it very unreliable.
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Post by mrssmith on Jan 21, 2021 23:00:34 GMT
I worry that the student hosting gig post-covid would change greatly. I think there are going to be new ways of doing things, and we don't really know when people will be allowed back for extended visits. I'd try to plan around them since there's no way of knowing if you'll ever go back to that the way it was.
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Post by mikewozowski on Jan 21, 2021 23:09:28 GMT
how much money do you expect when your mom dies? do you know for sure that you are in the will? if it is a lot of money, do you think you could get her to give you enough to pay off your mortgage and then that amount will be accounted for in the will as already having been disbursed to you? depends on how much money you re expecting, though. and it could be possible to do this without your brother knowing as long as you all had it added to the will and all.
my mom is old and will die within the next few years, but i don't think the amount we would get from her would make us "financially secure" if we weren't already.
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Post by myboysnme on Jan 21, 2021 23:11:43 GMT
I would rent out my house and move into a small apartment for now.
If that was not feasible, I would rent out rooms in my house. If there was a way to redesignate my rooms I would try to give myself and the renters as much privacy as possible. If you do a one year lease you may find the options for international students opens up.
I would also probably discontinue the remaining student returning and get a full time job and possibly part time job as well before I would give up my house.
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moodyblue
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,166
Location: Western Illinois
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on Jan 21, 2021 23:26:50 GMT
How bad are the problems with your brother if your mom gives you financial help? Maybe you need to suck it up and deal, if that’s what it takes to keep going for now. You could have a legal agreement drawn up.
Honestly, can your daughter take out some loans to cover her costs until she graduates? It sounds like she has a job if she wants it and possible prospects for others, so she may be in a better position to take on some debt than you. Once she is settled more, if you still think selling and moving in with her short term is a good idea, then you could sell and do that. Your mom could live for many more years.
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,972
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Jan 21, 2021 23:55:33 GMT
Are the students in college? If you like interacting with that age group, you should look for a position as a "house mom" for a fraternity or sorority. I work with an advisor who does this. She gets to keep her full-time job in advising, but she lives in an apartment in the sorority house. "House mom" is the old-fashioned term: she is more like a property manager. She has to be available a certain number of hours per week, but she does get time off for going out of town and such. She is allowed to live in the house over the summer, but very few students live there then.
She is responsible for the house budget. She does the food shopping, but she does not have to cook. The cook gives her the grocery list and off she goes. She does have to enforce house rules (kind of like an RA), but she says its not a big deal. She is responsible for scheduling maintenance but does not have to do any actual maintenance.
She gets to live there rent-free, and she gets a monthly stipend as well. She has done this as long as I have known her, and she is banking a LOT of her advising salary with the plan to purchase a home in the future when she gets tired of this gig. Before long, she will have enough to practically purchase a townhouse mortgage free. She is single, and she really enjoys the interaction she has with "her girls," so it is a win-win for her.
If you really enjoy working with college students, something like this would be a good opportunity to eliminate your housing costs and build up your savings if you can work another job as well.
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Peamac
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea # 418
Posts: 4,218
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Post by Peamac on Jan 21, 2021 23:58:48 GMT
Can you rent out part of your home as an Airbnb?
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Post by peasapie on Jan 22, 2021 0:00:29 GMT
Are there any towns you can move to that would cost much less? If you can sell your house for a good price and move to something less expensive, that might be an option. Could you work for another school district if you move?
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Post by allison1954 on Jan 22, 2021 0:09:14 GMT
What if your mom lives another 10 years and has major medical costs before that?
I’d hate to count on something that could be a long way off yet
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Post by AussieMeg on Jan 22, 2021 0:14:43 GMT
As horrible as this sounds, I just need to keep afloat until my mom (who will be 92 in a couple of months) passes. I will be very financially secure then...sigh. Ah, that does change things. It's not something we like to talk or think about, but it's still something you need to take into consideration when making such big life decisions. If I knew I was going to get enough money in the will to enable me to buy another house, then selling up now / in the summer would be back on the table as an option. But still as a last resort. |
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ellaknits
Full Member
Posts: 186
Mar 17, 2020 22:21:56 GMT
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Post by ellaknits on Jan 22, 2021 1:55:22 GMT
Given your age and hers, and differing earning abilities to go forward, I'd ask her to take loans to cover some of her costs this last year so your house isn't on the chopping block. She has time to pay that back and putting yourself over the edge so she has no debt doesn't make sense IMO.
I know this flies in the face of what parents like to do, but I think it's ludicrous to potentially put your housing at risk while paying all her expenses so she graduates debt free (maybe that's not the situation at all, but that's how I'm understanding the financial arrangement). She has years to pay it back while you face very real housing insecurity. I would not ever put my parents in that situation. Her college education would not come before your house in my mind. My 0.02.
I don't expect this advice to be popular, but it's my perspective and an option. Another possibility - can your mother take on some/all of the college expenses this last year? Can anyone else in the family?
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Post by houstonsandy on Jan 22, 2021 2:41:36 GMT
how much money do you expect when your mom dies? do you know for sure that you are in the will? if it is a lot of money, do you think you could get her to give you enough to pay off your mortgage and then that amount will be accounted for in the will as already having been disbursed to you? depends on how much money you re expecting, though. and it could be possible to do this without your brother knowing as long as you all had it added to the will and all. my mom is old and will die within the next few years, but i don't think the amount we would get from her would make us "financially secure" if we weren't already. My half will be be at least between 2 and 3M at this point plus half of all her farmland. (She has a lot of farmland that she rents out to farmers to grow crops on). That is the money she "lives" with. Everything else is in the stock market or invested. Its not "liquid" and my brother takes care of all of that for her so he would know.
Yes, I know I am in the will. We were all together when things got updated after my divorce and it is all being split evenly between my brother and I. There is a trust my dad set up before he passed that has about 1.6M in it right now and she has even more than that in an account of her own. So, yeah.... Its my daughter who will be the biggest beneficiary in the very end. She is the only child, my brother (who has done very well with investments himself) never married, and everything will eventually funnel down to her in the end.
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Post by scrappychick on Jan 22, 2021 2:53:55 GMT
Perhaps your daughter could start paying her own rent. That could buy you a few more months before any hard decisions have to be made about your house.
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Post by mom on Jan 22, 2021 2:57:13 GMT
If I were in your shoes, I would find a second (or third) job. Delivering pizza, or whatever you have to do. Working 35 hours isn't enough and you cant depend on the international students.
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Post by katlaw on Jan 22, 2021 3:22:52 GMT
What about if you asked your mom to purchase your home. And rent it back to you for a reasonable amount you could afford without the international students.
It would not affect your brother's inheritance. It would be an investment and might even grow in value. The home would be part of the estate when she passes away. At that point you would inherit half and you could purchase the other half from your brother with money you inherit.
If she bought it at market value you could have some home equity from the purchase to put in the bank in case the students cannot attend school.
And if it was inherited at market value there would be nothing for your brother to complain about.
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