As published in Around Acworth magazine:
In real estate, all the planning I do as an agent is based on what I want to happen 90 days from now. Everything I am doing right now will come to fruition in three months. Looking forward, three months from now is the Fall. It’s hard to think about cooler temps and back to school when we are enjoying the neighborhood pool and family vacations!
With four college age kids, I am always thinking about college. Always! Questions like: Are they ready for next year? Are they going to change their major yet again? How’s the budget looking? Where will they live? Some of these things are beyond my control. But two of them I can manage easily – the budget and the living situation.
Over the course of their lives, my husband and I had put away money for the kids’ college years. Traditional savings accounts that would yield a traditional nest egg for them. As we approached the first kid being ready to “launch”, I began to think bigger. I had been doing a lot of research on investment properties, and I had a big idea. We took a gamble and used a portion of the college money as a down payment on a house.
My kid moved into one of the rooms – and not the best one, mind you! We rented out the other rooms to my child’s friends or other college kids. Each room had a lock and key and a separate lease. While my child lived in a great property, the mortgage was paid by the roommates and in four years we sold the house for a very nice profit. Boom – budget and living situation problem solved! We are currently amid what I like to call a “rinse & repeat” for the other kids. This crazy market has certainly helped the plan work extremely well for us!
Have kids nearing those college years? You can put this plan into action as well. If implemented carefully, you will make a profit and will have peace of mind about where your child resides for this time of their life. There are a lot of moving parts in doing so, though. Make sure to enlist a Realtor who has expertise, not just with the housing market, but with the rules and regulations of your child’s college system.
