We sold our last rental property today and used the money to pay off our current house. We bought that rental in 2019, paying a hefty down payment of more than half of the asking price. We plowed every dollar we made from renting the place into expenses and paying off the mortgage. Once that was done (it took six years) we cleaned the place up and put it on the market.
In case you are interested, we paid $150,000 down on a house that cost us $250,000. All of the rent collected went to paying off the loan. Sale price was $310,000. We had to put on a new roof and some other repairs, paid real estate commissions and closing costs that totaled $35,000.
Cost of $250,000, sale proceeds of $275,000, meaning that we made $25,000 in profit after holding the house for 6 years. When you consider that the only money out of our pockets was the initial $150,000 down payment, we actually wound up making $125,000 return in 6 years on our initial investment. That gives us a rate of return of 10.66%.
Now the house I live in is paid off, and we no longer have a mortgage payment. I am also out of the landlord business. It also means that I no longer NEED a job. Now I have options. I am considering dropping down to PRN (as needed) basis- meaning I can work 1 day a week, full time, or anything in between. My choice.
That gives me options with my shitty, shady employer. This is what my wife and I refer to as “fuck you money.”
21 Comments
Leigh · December 24, 2025 at 12:05 pm
Excellent. Good for you DM!
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
Michael · December 24, 2025 at 12:22 pm
Good news for a Christmas eve.
I still hope you’ve gotten plenty of good references from your Dr’s and peers just in case HR gets frisky given you’re a threat to management for trying to jump up and take one of their jobs.
True FU money is when you already have a passport from Peru (or such) and thus a residency and job opening there. But excellent news none the less.
WDS · December 24, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Merry Christmas & Congratulations! This is what 4D chess really looks like.
Al · December 24, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Congratulations!
Bluey · December 24, 2025 at 1:31 pm
Fuck you money is where I aspire to be. Doesn’t have to be millions, I live quite modestly, but enough that I could walk away if I wanted to.
Congratulations!
it's just Boris · December 24, 2025 at 1:35 pm
It’s a good feeling, being out of debt. We’re planning on having our current place paid off about the time I retire. (Either the retirement or the payoff could happen next week if we wanted it to, really, but a bigger cushion would be nice and we have a very low mortgage rate.)
Every time I’ve moved I’ve looked at renting out my former house, but never could convince myself it would be worth it in the end. I suppose in no small part that’s because my moves have typically been 1000 – 1500 miles, and being a remote landlord seemed unappealing. (There are management companies, but none of the ones I talked to ever seemed worth the vig.)
Anyway, congrats!
SiG · December 24, 2025 at 2:47 pm
Congratulations again! Not needing a job is a good feeling, if the “need” applies to income to live on. If you need the job to feel like you’re accomplishing things or to feel like you’re alive, that’s a different thing. If that was the case, volunteering at your old ambulance medic-kind of job might do it for you.
GreenCross4Safety · December 24, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Congrats! Good for you.
dmlmd · December 24, 2025 at 4:55 pm
Now that’s a Merry Christmas and a great way to start ’26
Grumpy51 · December 24, 2025 at 5:12 pm
EXCELLENT!!
I have worked “PRN” for over 5 years now. I work when I want to, off when I want (you already know the scheduling). When the house and vehicles are paid for, it doesn’t require much to live. Now, I only work for “splurge” expenses….. like going and seeing the grands….
Woody · December 24, 2025 at 5:17 pm
Best feeling in the world, is being able to walk from a job and not worry about money. Congrats
Danny · December 24, 2025 at 5:26 pm
Looks like it worked out well – now on to 2026. Hope it’s a good year. Merry Christmas to all!
JimmyPx · December 24, 2025 at 8:38 pm
That is awesome news Divemedic.
You really should think about either partially retiring and fully retiring.
The reason being is that (as you know as well as anyone) when you get older your health can go off a cliff overnight.
If you can afford it, enjoy your life. Go on trips and do the things you want to.
Money is worthless if your health sucks and you can go anywhere or do anything.
I know several people in their late 70s who have a ton of money in the bank yet have health problems and never leave town. They say how they wish that they had retired earlier than they did.
Or you can be like my buddy Dave who “couldn’t afford to retire” and dropped dead one day at work at 67.
DM, only you know your situation but you should think on it.
Treefarmer · December 24, 2025 at 9:43 pm
You probably also had some interesting tax deductions over those six years that added to your ROI.
Dan D. · December 24, 2025 at 11:33 pm
You “cashed out” because you “worked in” – physically, mentally and empathetically – over many years. And when it was truly hard on you.
Now that the speed governors of debt are cast off I hope you maintain your stride and continue to set the example for those paying attention.
Fred · December 25, 2025 at 9:16 am
Being able to say “fuck you, I ain’t gonna” and make it stick is a good position to be in.
Beaner49 · December 25, 2025 at 10:12 am
Now you have control. And having control is the best place to be in this day and age. Make sure you do the things that you have always wanted to do and only work when it’s really necessary. After I retired one of the most enjoyable things was waking up at 5:00 am and thinking oh I really don’t have to get up and rolling over and going right back to sleep.
Henry · December 25, 2025 at 10:35 am
Merry Christmas and congratulations for sticking with your plan for financial independence. When I paid off our house both financial advisors I consulted strongly urged against it, and in hindsight, had I followed their advice I would have been worse off. Nothing beats having a paid-off house and paid-for cars.
Steady Steve · December 25, 2025 at 2:34 pm
One piece of advice I got from an employer years ago that was valuable, “When you quit a job always leave with them wishing you had stayed”. I did that several times and got a call a few months later wanting to rehire me. It was quite gratifying to say no and tell them the actual reasons I had left.
ghostsniper · December 25, 2025 at 5:00 pm
Careful there hoss. We have a similar thing going on. We paid our house off last week and are now waiting on the paperwork. My wife and I are both self employed, 30 years for her, 40 for me. While we both “could” stop working and live off SS and what we have, we know of a dood named Murphy that is the ultimate bearer of ill will.
Seems that in my life anytime I have received a brief ray of sunshine it will inevitably be followed with a very dark shadow ready to take me out. I have learned a few things. Do NOT burn bridges. Do NOT make BIG sudden changes. Ease into things and do so quietly. Don’t unnecessarily rock the boat.
Our house is now paid for, a goal we have been working toward for a very long time, but we are both going to continue to work as we have for at least a few months and then assess where we are at.
I happen to like my work (architect) and will probably work until I die, but my wife would just as soon let her work as an editor/indexer go. By spring we’ll have a better focus. Good luck and Merry Christmas.
Em · December 26, 2025 at 3:50 pm
I’ve gone PRN twice now when winding down my time at a facility, and the change in the dynamics was a good one. I hope it will be for you as well. It’ll definitely remove the target from your back, plus they’ll have a need for you to fill in, so they’ll play nice. Having an out helped me let go of some of my resentments. No lie, all of a sudden I started getting a ‘thank-you’ each time I worked. Go figure.
Comments are closed.