rental property owners, i have a few questions

[OutHouse]

the houses in my town have dropped in price A LOT. there are many houses that have been on the market for a year or more and the owners want to unload them.

now is a golden oppurtinity to get one of these houses and rent it out. the thing is thre is a new 1200 bed mediium security prison being built near my town and the Colorao national guard just bought 250 acres outside of town and are moving from denver. so there will be a good need for renters very soon.


my quesstion is to you if you are a rental property owner is.... is it worth it or a major pain in the ass. the two homes i am looking at are listed for 70K and 59K. one i know is in decent condition its next door to a friend of ours so i know a bit about its history. the other i know know nothing about.

thoughts.....

 

[Chryso]

The houses themselves will be less trouble than the renters most likely.
Are you a hard ass? Are you cold and calculating? Can you throw a family who is down on their luck out into the street. If the answer to these questions is "Yes" then this could work for you. If you are a softie then you may want to steer clear.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: Chryso
The houses themselves will be less trouble than the renters most likely.
Are you a hard ass? Are you cold and calculating? Can you throw a family who is down on their luck out into the street. If the answer to these questions is "Yes" then this could work for you. If you are a softie then you may want to steer clear.

Or get a property management company to take care of that stuff for you.

IMO it's a great investment.


but only if you can afford to make all the payments on those houses without renters in them.

 

[NoShangriLa]

As Chryso have said being a landlord isn't an easy task. It could be a good investment that come with a lot more work than regulare stock/bond investment. If you are still interested after reading these messages, then look into landlord tenant act for your area before you make the decision.

Good luck.

60-70K is cheap, I'm not sure how much money you have but at that price you should be able to purchase it out right with out making payment.

or, making payment at $350.00 per month + property tax + yearly maintainance.

 

[fisheerman]

Also are you handing with the tools or would you have to contract out all of the needed repairs? This can add up if you need a roof or some major work to a place.

It is worth it for the long haul but a major PITA for the short term.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: ZeroIQ

Or get a property management company to take care of that stuff for you.

IMO it's a great investment.


but only if you can afford to make all the payments on those houses without renters in them.

Very good investment... plus a lot more people are renting now than buying.

However, be prepared to be a landlord. If that single mother of two is 2 months late on rent you are going to have to kick her to the curb. Even is she is crying and pleading. And make sure you have cash for unexpected events... i.e., plumbing repairs, appliance repairs, etc.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: Citrix
the houses in my town have dropped in price A LOT. there are many houses that have been on the market for a year or more and the owners want to unload them.

now is a golden oppurtinity to get one of these houses and rent it out. the thing is thre is a new 1200 bed mediium security prison being built near my town and the Colorao national guard just bought 250 acres outside of town and are moving from denver. so there will be a good need for renters very soon.


my quesstion is to you if you are a rental property owner is.... is it worth it or a major pain in the ass. the two homes i am looking at are listed for 70K and 59K. one i know is in decent condition its next door to a friend of ours so i know a bit about its history. the other i know know nothing about.

thoughts.....

wow 79k? and 59k? I need to move to denver!

 

[OutHouse]

do any of you have a rental contract i can take a look at?

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: Citrix
do any of you have a rental contract i can take a look at?

GIYF --- get working

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: Citrix
do any of you have a rental contract i can take a look at?

GIYF --- get working

lol thanks but i dont live in Boulder, i only work in Boulder. there is good info in that link so i will cruise through it.

 

[imported_weadjust]

I have one rental property. Owned for 15 years. I do all the repairs and maintenance. Screen the tennants and it's not too bad. Good credit, work history, refrences required.

Link to a rental forms page

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/porterentps/formcorner.html

 

[GCS]

12 properties here.

Can be great and can be total suckage.

Make sure you have a good lease, good attorney, good bank for financing and a good handy man for work on the homes.

DO NOT EVER wait to throw someone out REGARDLESS of their excuse. If they are late with rent IMMEDIATELY start the eviction proceedings which in VA (where I am) starts with a simple Pay or Quit Notice followed by filing in the courts if they do not pay in 5 days. It takes about 30 days to get a court date. Once you have that court date, if they show up the court usually gives them 30 days to pay or else (ie you are back in court to throw them out). If they do not show the judge issues an eviction notice and you, your tools, and the cops go over to remove them from the premises (you and your tools go to change the locks on the spot).

If you do purchase a rental property DO NOT PURCHASE IT IN YOUR NAME. Set up an LLC in your state and purchase/title the property in that LLC name. This will help with Liability protection. Be sure to carry Property Insurance on each rental you own as well as Liability Insurance for your company as a whole. DO NOT SKIMP ON THESE!!

YOU MUST track all income and expenses separately from your personal finances as you will need to record this information on a Schedule E on your personal return (sort of a mini-tax return on your 1040). Some things will be deductible in the current year (painting, minor repairs, etc) others will be deemed as assets and depreciated over time (carpet, HVAC systems, roof, etc).

Also understand one VERY IMPORTANT thing ... being a rental property owner IS NOT -- I say again NOT a get rich quick deal. If you do rentals you must understand that you are in it for the longer term investment. If you want money quick be a flipper but in today's market flipping is very tough. One thing is for sure investing in property is still a better investment than the stock market at this time.

These are just the very basic things and I hope this helps. There is much more to it than this though.

Greg

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Citrix
the houses in my town have dropped in price A LOT. there are many houses that have been on the market for a year or more and the owners want to unload them.

now is a golden oppurtinity to get one of these houses and rent it out. the thing is thre is a new 1200 bed mediium security prison being built near my town and the Colorao national guard just bought 250 acres outside of town and are moving from denver. so there will be a good need for renters very soon.


my quesstion is to you if you are a rental property owner is.... is it worth it or a major pain in the ass. the two homes i am looking at are listed for 70K and 59K. one i know is in decent condition its next door to a friend of ours so i know a bit about its history. the other i know know nothing about.

thoughts.....

credit check the tennants.
refuse anyone that says they can move in tommorow. not enuf time to run a credit check. heck, they might have been evicted and needs a place to stay.

 

[drnickriviera]

Good info from GCS. We've had up to 20 properties at one time, sold some out when housing was skyrocketing.

Forget this 2 months late junk. If it's not paid in 5 days, pay or quit, then evict. I'm a nice guy and tried to give people a break. I always got the short end of the stick. I'd probably be $20k richer if I was a hard ass and just kicked them out.

Rentals in my area do seem to be strong right now. I had 3 houses go vacant at the end of dec. I was though it was going to be horrible trying to rent them, but by the 3rd week of Jan, I had them all rented. This time last year I sat on a house for 5 months trying to get it rented.

If you do buy it, check out www.mrlandlord.com they have some good info

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: GCS
12 properties here.

Can be great and can be total suckage.

Make sure you have a good lease, good attorney, good bank for financing and a good handy man for work on the homes.

DO NOT EVER wait to throw someone out REGARDLESS of their excuse. If they are late with rent IMMEDIATELY start the eviction proceedings which in VA (where I am) starts with a simple Pay or Quit Notice followed by filing in the courts if they do not pay in 5 days. It takes about 30 days to get a court date. Once you have that court date, if they show up the court usually gives them 30 days to pay or else (ie you are back in court to throw them out). If they do not show the judge issues an eviction notice and you, your tools, and the cops go over to remove them from the premises (you and your tools go to change the locks on the spot).

If you do purchase a rental property DO NOT PURCHASE IT IN YOUR NAME. Set up an LLC in your state and purchase/title the property in that LLC name. This will help with Liability protection. Be sure to carry Property Insurance on each rental you own as well as Liability Insurance for your company as a whole. DO NOT SKIMP ON THESE!!

YOU MUST track all income and expenses separately from your personal finances as you will need to record this information on a Schedule E on your personal return (sort of a mini-tax return on your 1040). Some things will be deductible in the current year (painting, minor repairs, etc) others will be deemed as assets and depreciated over time (carpet, HVAC systems, roof, etc).

Also understand one VERY IMPORTANT thing ... being a rental property owner IS NOT -- I say again NOT a get rich quick deal. If you do rentals you must understand that you are in it for the longer term investment. If you want money quick be a flipper but in today's market flipping is very tough. One thing is for sure investing in property is still a better investment than the stock market at this time.

These are just the very basic things and I hope this helps. There is much more to it than this though.

Greg

good advice here.

 

[GCS]

Originally posted by: drnickriviera
Good info from GCS. We've had up to 20 properties at one time, sold some out when housing was skyrocketing.

Forget this 2 months late junk. If it's not paid in 5 days, pay or quit, then evict. I'm a nice guy and tried to give people a break. I always got the short end of the stick. I'd probably be $20k richer if I was a hard ass and just kicked them out.

Rentals in my area do seem to be strong right now. I had 3 houses go vacant at the end of dec. I was though it was going to be horrible trying to rent them, but by the 3rd week of Jan, I had them all rented. This time last year I sat on a house for 5 months trying to get it rented.

If you do buy it, check out www.mrlandlord.com they have some good info

Agreed as a landlord the nice guy DOES finish last.

Believe me I learned the hard way!!

Greg