Tony Hawk will forever be grateful for purchasing a “party house” at age 17.
During a recent appearance on SoFi’s Richer Lives podcast, Hawk, 56, discussed purchasing his first property during his senior year of high school after following some advice from his dad Frank.
“I was making good money, and he said, ‘I really think you should invest in real estate.’ And what I heard was, ‘You can have your own place, party house,’ ” Hawk recalled.
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Because of his age at the time, his father had to co-sign for the house, but Hawk said he “had his blessing” and ended up living in it with roommates around the same age, with some also still in high school.
“My parents were always out of town, so my house was the party house by default,” said Hawk.
While the pro skateboarding legend had fun with his friends, owning a home at a young age ultimately helped him excel in his sports.
“We were relatively responsible, mostly because I couldn’t afford to just burn out and party all the time. I was required to skate and perform at a high level all the time. Like every weekend, going to events and doing video shoots and stuff,” he said.
Years later, the home became his “saving grace” when his career slowed.
“I ended up buying another property, kind of getting underwater with my expenses. I had a big ramp set up there. That was the dream, but I just really was in over my head,” Hawk admitted.
He explained that he “took out a second mortgage on the house to start a skateboard company, of all things, and then ended up selling the house for what I owed [and] moved back into the house I bought when I was in high school.”
By this time, Hawk had become a father to his first son, Hudson Riley Hawk, now 32, with his then-wife, Cindy Dunbar. He began cutting back on expenses and taking on side jobs, including editing and consulting work.
The situation ended up being his “wake-up call,” teaching him a valuable lesson that he still lives with today.
“The baseline was, ‘Don’t live beyond your means.’ I thought that I wasn’t. I just kept kind of being in denial that, ‘Oh, I’m not making as much as I’m spending,’ ” said Hawk. “And then at some point, I definitely was not making as much as I was spending and I still had all these expenses.”
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“Back then, I had a water bill that I had to go make payments on it. That’s when things got really tricky and a little scary,” he continued. “It was a wake-up call. You should always be living so that you know you have savings.”
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