Anyone into property management?

[UDT89]

Im just a few months out of college, and im about 25% of the way there to a 20% down payment on a house. My long term plan is to buy houses and rent them. The renting rate in my area is equal to or greater than the mortgage and yearly taxes.....aside from maintenence.

Anyone currently doing this?

I was hoping to get my first one in the next year or so, and just repeat the process when the opportunity arises. I also thought of getting a two family house and getting double the rent for the same price house, or even living in the same house for free.

I know people say being a landlord is hard and its not worth it and blah blah blah. I dont wanna hear your landlord stories or how tenants screwed you. Just give me honest real life experiences about going into property management, and what to aviod or any suggestions.

My retirement would be selling the houses when they are off mortgage, or just living off my pension from work.

 

[Ameesh]

im very seriously considering doing this but it takes a while to scrape up a good size downpayment.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I own a few, but I did most of mine as section 8 gov. housing. The trick is getting the whole thing financed, not just 80%. The banks I use will loan 80% of their appraisal, so I just need to buy it 20% off pretty much. House costs me $40,000, therefore I need it to appraise for $50,000. Helps knowing the folks at the banks

The best luck you will have is renting to old people. They stay there forever, and won't tear stuff up. The dual thing sounds like a good idea in practice, but many folks don't like it. They feel like they are constantly being watched by you, and on the flip side, you are ALWAYS a few steps away when anything does wrong. You can't give them that "well I was out of town" or "I'm busy and will do it later" excuses.

There's really nothing to it. For every 5 houses there may be a problem every month and a half to 2 months. Only major things were needing a new roof (ins covers), and a light fixture fell off the wall in a bathroom.

You really need to check with the laws in your state. In TX, if you don't pay all I have to do is go down to the Sheriff's office and have them serve an eviction notice. 10 days later and your ass is on the curb. In other states you have to give the person time to try and pay, they can file for grievances, etc. Just from what I've heard, I'd never bother with rental stuff in another state. TX has nice laws for landlords.

Also be ready to have a house be unrented for a couple of months. You'll need to have the cash to cover the payments if no one is there. May not sound too tough, but when you have 2 or 3 availible, it's a bite in the ass. Jee, none of that was anything that common sense wouldn't answer