Tommy B

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Everybody wants affordable housing until the affordable house has one bathroom and countertops from 1997.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Apparently the housing crisis can only be discussed using houses nobody can afford. Post a cheap one and everyone gets pissed.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

I miss when a $20 bill felt like you could leave the house and do something.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

If I were starting over today at 44, here’s what I’d do.

I’d start with a house like this. $39,900 in Toledo, Ohio.

1. I’d stop whining about how expensive everything is and start looking at what I could actually afford.

2. I’d get a part-time second job or do Rover. I’d list the shit I wasn’t using on Facebook Marketplace or eBay. And I’d stack cash.

3. I’d look for the lowest point of entry in my market with room to improve. This house is currently a one-bedroom. I’d figure out what it would take to turn it back into two.

4. I’d ditch the expensive debt, cook at home, and put in the 6–12 months of effort to get myself ready to buy.

5. I’d aim for 20% down. On this house, that’s $7,980. I’d also save for closing costs, repairs, and a cushion for whatever breaks first.

6. I’d live in it for two years. Turn it back into a two-bedroom. Improve it a little at a time. Finish the basement if it made sense. I’d rent the extra bedroom and put that money toward the work.

7. At the two-year mark, I’d look at selling. I’d want it to be the nicest house a buyer could get at that price. I’d run the numbers before deciding whether moving actually put me ahead.

8. I’d use the proceeds to buy something a little larger or nicer. And I’d repeat until I got to the house I wanted to stay in.

I did this over 12 years. That’s how I got into the neighborhood and house I plan to stay in.

I worked a part-time job at Ross. I sold on eBay. I put in the effort, and I lived in houses that needed work while I worked on them.

My first house wasn’t my forever home. It was what got me started.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

There are bloody baby dolls all over my neighbor’s front yard.

I hope this has something to do with Halloween. 🎃

What the fuck am I looking at?🤷

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Imagine being so rude to Kelly Clarkson she has to hit you with a real-life Since U Been Gone. 🤦💩

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

I buy weird shit cheap and try to sell it higher.

Sometimes it comes on a pallet.

Sometimes it comes with a deed.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Does your city have a land bank?

Mine does.

I bought this vacant lot for $150.

People will spend more than that on a Costco run and then tell you real estate is impossible to get into.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

HGTV and the Property Brothers really had us hanging farm hardware inside suburban houses like it was fucking luxury design.

A dark time in American interior design.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Meanwhile in Ohio…

$695K buys you an entire 25,908 sq ft former school.

That’s about $27 a sq ft.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Well played Costco ▶️ 👏

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

I haven't bought a new property since 2024

Is it really $2575 for a residential 6000 sq ft lot survey now?

I paid $625 in 2024

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Ever have a tenant complain about everything…

Then refuse to open the door when you send someone to fix it?

Or am I the only one?

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Do we think the landlord had "enough" and hired some guys 🤔?

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

Apparently everything is unaffordable now. Sam’s Club didn’t get the memo.

Meanwhile I’m buying 100% cotton sheet sets for $13.96.

Turn off the news once in a while and go look around.

The clearance aisle has a very different inflation report.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

This room didn’t need a renovation.

It needed better decisions.

Same room. No AI.

Just lighting, paint & staging.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

One of the easiest ways to lose me as a landlord or seller:

Ask a question that’s already answered clearly in the listing.

It tells me exactly how working with you is going to go.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

The cheapest renovation in real estate is also one of the most powerful.

Paint is basically makeup for houses.

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

A buyer gave eBay the wrong address, waited until after I shipped, then wanted me to fix it.

Amazing how quickly “my mistake” becomes “your customer service issue.”

[Thefrugalgay🏘 @Thefrugalgay11]

The cosmetics industry is worth roughly $375 billion.

Why?

Because appearance changes value.

Real estate is no different. A few thousand dollars in paint can add tens of thousands in perceived value.

Sometimes the pig just needed better lipstick.