Unfiltered thoughts & worries about my duplex purchase

I’ve always been honest with the internet and I’m not about to stop now, so here is my confession…. I’m freaking out. 🥴

As of tomorrow, I’ll be the owner of a $240,000 duplex. I know is a good move for me financially and for my future. I’ve run the numbers, done the research, saved like crazy and planned for every contingency I can think of.

See my previous post on the purchase details here:

But I’m also fully aware of my lack of experience in homeownership, landlording, fixing and more. I know that this will be expensive, that I can’t plan for everything, that I will learn from mistakes as they are made.

The main worry, I’ll admit, is the sheer amount of debt I’ll be taking on. It makes my $33k student loan debt I conquered seem piddly.

I’ll think ill miss being debt free terribly. These past couple years of so many options having no debt gave me was incredible. But moving forward costs. And the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives.

For instance, I think having someone else paying most of my mortgage for me (by renting out the other side of the duplex) is the coolest trick in the world. 🤩#househacking

Also taking the money I’m paying to rent and getting to “keep” a portion of it as it’s invested into equity seems like a boss move. Yes there is still a big amount of money going “wasted” to insurance, taxes, etc., but it feels similar to going from paying to go to school and work to getting paid to work at a real job. (I.e. awesome and like a little weight is lifted).

Previous purchasing panics

I know myself well enough to know that this reaction is very normal for me as well. I have big panic before large purchases.

When I was in college I spent all of one summer working at my local newspaper and used a huge chunk of my savings to buy a Nikon D40 DSLR camera. It was about $600 and was the most I had ever spent on something non-essential before.

I sat on the floor in Walmart and almost took it back. My best friend Jaimie talked me out of it.

It turned out to be a fantastic purchase and created an additional way for me to make an income. I was able to get jobs doing spot photography for that same newspaper the following years while I was in school. It made it possible for me to develop a new skill that made me more attractive to employers, one I still use today.

That $600 camera was an investment in myself. I hope that this $240k duplex will serve me similarly and I have every reason to think it will.

So tomorrow I sign on the dotted line for more money than I honestly think I should be trusted with. I think I’m ready… I feel like I’m ready…

But I still feel like I might throw up.

Discuss:

Did you feel like this when purchasing a home? Got any tips for a complete non-expert?

Update: I bought a house! It’s going great and I pay just $150 per month toward my $1700 mortgage!

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