Any landlords in here?

pearsall001

tonyb wrote: »

You have to ask yourself some serious questions first.
Is your job secure ? Down the road ?
Can you use equity in your home instead of a new loan ?
Have you researched what rent is for comparable properties and would that cover the nut ?
Are you willing to get those 3 am. phone calls ?
Have you talked to a bank yet ?

In this economy, with this housing market, banks are pretty stingy these days. You have to show good financials and have some cash to put down. Unless we are talking forclosures, thats another ball game.[/QUOTE

A great points Tony. However the best move I made with my rental properties is going with a management company. They handle all matters from advertising for rent, screening potential renters, repairs, evictions...etc. They are in constant contact with me on all matters & I always have the final say & approval. It is well worth the small % I pay them. None of my tenants know who I am, in fact they all assume that the management company ownes the properties. No 3:00am phone call for me. That is the only way I would invest in rental properties.

evhudsons

None of us are raining on your good idea or are being condescending, we are just looking out for a polkies best interest and giving advice from personal experience. This is more than doable, but every single response was looking out for your best interest and snow wanted to make sure that IF what he were saying was so, then you should simply find out what possibilities lie ahead. I deal with these things all the time, and as a property manager it's tough to call on who owns the house when the note my hold a different name. It gets strange and his scenario is one of many.
It was good advice just to make sure you are safe, that's all. It sounds like you have done your homework and was just getting opinions here, which are all very good.
Best of luck!

heiney9

I was not trying to rain on anyone's parade, just providing some real life examples that happen. I was in banking for about 10-12 years and I'm now in the title insurance industry and I have seen/heard it all. It can get ugly fast if you haven't done your homework. In general (maybe not the OP) people think it's easy to buy some property and rent it out for a positive cash flow. There are all sorts of headaches that come along, even with satisfactory tenants. And the expenese are rather high at times and it's easy to get buried if you aren't careful.

That was my only point. Good luck if you decide to proceed. One of the worst things you can do is try and manage property if you don't even live in the same state. Not onl do you have to trust your tenants, but you need a local contact you can trust explicitly to take care of things for you while you are gone. It means a trusted friend or family member or to pay a management company which comes directly out of your cash flow.

Right now the trend is to rent because so many people are loosing their homes, there is a glut of rentals on the market (in general) and that drives down rental prices which in turn drives down cash flow if you don't pay bottom $$$ for your rentals. Not to mention everyone wants to get in on the rental action.

H9

cstmar01

I'm on the end of it where if you don't pay for it, I end up taking it back and then have to sell it.

Thats why you do need to be certain about your income etc and that you can afford everything. You just have to use your head. It can be money coming it but make sure you have some reserves saved up so that if there is a problem you can take care of it. I just see and hear it far too much where they had a bad apple who ruined some of the property and then couldn't afford to fix it and keep paying on their own house.

Good luck!

vlam

I do rental properties in Philly and their is a market for renting properties. Seems like everyone I come across is doing it these days. I manage my own and it sounds easy when someone tell you sure.. "buy a place and collect rent". There are so many ways that so many different LL that works for "THEM". My advice is

1. Don't do rental unless you can easily get to your property. In Philly, you technically can't rent out property unless you or have someone local to manage it.
2. If you can't pick up a hammer or a wrench to fix simple things, don't do it. Heck, if you can't climb up to the roof with a ladder to check for a leak, don't do it. Unless you have someone you can trust that will take on "small" task like these, don't do it.
3. If you don't know the rental market in that particular area, don't do it.

I do rental properties for leverage, not a way to make a living.

bottom line, it's not for everyone.. don't jump on the wagon just because X Y and Z said they are making money or making a living doing it. You need to refine other's people success/failure into what works for you.

Shizelbs

I'm not trying to get rich at this. I think I said otherwise earlier, but I was kidding. I'm not even looking at it as a way to stop working. Just another way to invest my time and money, get a little bit of cash flow going and build some equity in time.

rromeo923

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100318/

amulford

If your into it to build a nestegg, fine. You won't get rich. The positive cash flow will not be all that much, unless you can get some properties dirt cheap, which will probably mean some upfront outlay to bring them up to snuff. I usually sock the positive away for repairs and upgrades.

One thing to keep in mind about tenants is that alot of the times they don't feel about the place the way you do because they don't own it. Be prepared for that, and hold them to minimal expectations. Another thing is to make sure to keep it business. Be friendly, yes, but business is business.

If you are planning to manage things yourself, I would highly recommend you purchase Every Landlords Legal Guide. It will give you all the templates you need for paperwork, and they are court admissable. Make sure you research the laws in your state. It's not as bad for landlords as some will suggest, but it is a PITA when you want to evict in NJ.

I have been a landlord for a long time. Been through some crap, but it's all good, and a way to invest that you can control...

evhudsons

my uncle buys a house, renovates it, flips it for a profit every two years to save the capital gains taxes, buys another, renovates it, and then keeps doing the same thing until now he essentially owns a mansion that is paid for.

There are many possibilities.

Shizelbs

amulford wrote: »

If you are planning to manage things yourself, I would highly recommend you purchase Every Landlords Legal Guide.

.

Thanks for the recommendation. Just purchased the book now.