At Last, My Philadelphia Investment Property

Despite all of the talk about a housing bubble, I have decided to purchase an investment property, a triplex in the Philadelphia-area. (If you haven't already read my story up 'til now of the real estate search, click here.) I chose Philly because it's more affordable than New York, where I live, or California, where I am from. I may move to Philadelphia at a later date, but for now I intend on managing it from New York, only 2 hours away.

I need to come up with 5% down, and a few of the closing costs by the scheduled settlement date, June 13. It's going to take all of my emergency money and then some. As tempting as it may be, I am not going to withdraw any money from my 401(k) account or my Roth IRA. I plan on coming up with the rest of money in the following ways:

• I've been working all of the available overtime at my job, and for the last two weeks, I've averaged 20 extra hours a week.
• With the exception of last month's Puma shoes, I also have been on an extreme financial cutback, not charging any thing on my credit card and paying in cash for my purchases.
• My first June paycheck will be solely devoted to my plan. I may take all of my money from my brokerage account, and I'll take a draw from my business account, instead of spending that money on my business.
• I also have a freelance project in early June; that will add another $550 to my cash on hand.

Since I will have exhausted all of my money with the purchase, I need to act fast to replenish my emergency fund so that I don't have to rely on my credit cards. I'm really excited and hopefully everything will work out smoothly. I'll keep you posted.