Anyone here a landlord?

[Hairless Cat]

Ive been thinking about buying a small 2nd home to rent out - and hopefully let the renters pay off the mortgage for me.

Just wondering what the pros and cons might be.

[Doyle]

I have always heard it doesn't work unless you plan on doing it full time with multiple properties.

[pantherfan49]

Yep, multiple properties is best.

To be profitable, you have to have a property that never has problems and perfect tenants that stay long-term so that the property is always generating income. That's hard to find/do.

[Mrs Pantherfan]

Ive been thinking about buying a small 2nd home to rent out - and hopefully let the renters pay off the mortgage for me.

Just wondering what the pros and cons might be.

Go look at the house next door to me that renters lived in for 8 years. The painter dude that was doing a bid on it let me inside last weekend...holy poo balls, batman...it was DISGUSTING! I gagged, the smell in there was so bad..I looked at my husband and said "See, this right here is why I don't want to rent out a house"...even you charge first months rent as a deposit..it is not a guarantee it will cover damages done by people. People don't take care of what's not theirs..so if you do it..I would be really really picky on who you let in there.

BTW..It's prob gonna cost at least 8k-10k to fix the poo the people next door to me did to

[Hairless Cat]

I have always heard it doesn't work unless you plan on doing it full time with multiple properties.

Why?

not doubting you but why?

[pantherfan49]

Why?

not doubting you but why?

Because of economies of scale. Let's say you need a plumber, you will be able to work out better deals with them if they know you own multiple properties.

Also the administrative headache and overhead is more justifiable if you own multiple properties. Let's say you make $300 a month per property. I'll be damned if I am going to worry with paying an attorney to make up a lease, chase down non-paying tenants, worry with all the paperwork, etc to make just $300 per month. But if I have 5 properties, well $1500 per month sounds a bit more enticing.

[Hawk]

I disagree with the multiple property thing myself. Quite obviously the more properties you own and rent out, the more you stand to gain, but also the more you stand to lose/work etc. If you have the credit space to buy something, I think you 100% absolutely should. You essentially use the bank's money to buy a property and let someone else pay for it. You aren't going to make alot on it, but you shouldn't lose either. As the market rises, the value of the property rised and you win!

all of this of course if you can secure good tennants. I'd certainly be willing to charge a wee bit less to keep good people and minimize the risk of sitting empty. Good luck

[Jangler]

Dark and lonely on a summer's night.

Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.

Watchdog barking. Do he bite?

Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.

Slip in his window. Break his neck.

Then his house I start to wreck.

Got no reason. What the heck?

Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.

C-I-L-L my land lord!

[pantherfan49]

I disagree with the multiple property thing myself. Quite obviously the more properties you own and rent out, the more you stand to gain, but also the more you stand to lose/work etc. If you have the credit space to buy something, I think you 100% absolutely should. You essentially use the bank's money to buy a property and let someone else pay for it. You aren't going to make alot on it, but you shouldn't lose either. As the market rises, the value of the property rised and you win!

all of this of course if you can secure good tennants. I'd certainly be willing to charge a wee bit less to keep good people and minimize the risk of sitting empty. Good luck

That's why it use to be an OK investment. But property values aren't rising now and won't for the foreseeable future.

[Hawk]

yup, I hear that often....but the thing is, real estate is a long term thing, not something you can plan to make money on quickly. If you have time, and credit/equity, then why not?

[cookinwithgas]

I do this with my old house and I pray to Homer the Home Depot mascot that the AC units keep running.

[LifeisaGarden]

My in laws have several rental properties, mobile homes & houses. Most people he rents to treat his property like poo or never pay their rent on time. It's not like that on purpose, it just usually works out that way.

These one renters they had decided to paint the walls, they were not supposed to paint in the first place. When they painted they didn't move any of the furniture they just painted around it & they used God awful colors that were hard to cover.

Another renter let their teenage son put spray paint on the carpet, walls & ceiling and he put millions of nail holes in the walls. That was just one of the things wrong in that house.

Someone else put their dog in the storage building and let it poop & pee in there, it ruined the floors. They never even knew these people had a dog, apparently because it was kept in the storage building for the 2 years they lived there.

Recently, the last people that were evicted were just nasty people. They had a really bad mice infestation. Apparently, they never took their trash off & stored it out in the woods and under the house. When they moved they left all their crap and just took their clothes. It took my inlaws over a month to clean this place up. They hauled truckload after truckload of trash and contents of the house to the dump. They couldn't even sell the contents of the house because it was so badly infested with mice.

[thefuzz]

Do it. Do it. Do it.

Can you do any home repairs yourself? (painting, electrical, plumbing)

Do you want to at some point in your life start to gain wealth?

There is no easier way to make yourself a wealthy person in this country than to become a landlord.

Just remember to try to purchase in good school districts.

[Kitten Diver]

Do it. Do it. Do it.

Can you do any home repairs yourself? (painting, electrical, plumbing)

Do you want to at some point in your life start to gain wealth?

There is no easier way to make yourself a wealthy person in this country than to become a landlord.

Just remember to try to purchase in good school districts.

This. I also believe some of it is the price range you're in. If you own a small home/trailer most likely the people renting for 300-500 a month are poorer people who dont care what their rental home looks like.

If you can swing a home in the 1300-2000 a month rental range you may have tenant who will give a poo about their residence and the home they are inviting people over to..just my thoughts on how it might work. I dont own multiple properties though..