Income Properties

[MadImmortalMan]

Ok, so I've been trying to keep from starting threads because I don't wanna catch up with Tim while he's away. But this is actually affecting my life, and I wanna know some shizzle.


I have bought nothing yet. I am trying to find a place I can buy to rent to my mother--a 4th grade teacher with not a ton of income-that I can make sure nobody ever evicts her.

Do any of you have any experience with anything like this, and if so, what can you tell me?

[MadImmortalMan]

Next will be buying places in Bremerton and San Diego to rent to sailors. 

[The Brain]

Sailors share beds.

[Martinus]

I have a friend who started doing this around 7 years ago, when real estate market was booming, zloty was strong and everbody took loans denominated in foreign currencies. Now he has PLN 2 million worth of properties and PLN 4 million worth of mortgage loans.

[CountDeMoney]

Do any of you have any experience with anything like this, and if so, what can you tell me?

The only people I've ever known to get into rental properties got right the fuck back out when the could, or wished they did.

[Grey Fox]

I don't own any personnally but my grand father has ~10 of them. My dad's GF has 1, my half-bro has 2.

The trick seems to find one that pays enought in rent to pay itself + a little more.

[The Brain]

I have a friend who started doing this around 7 years ago, when real estate market was booming, zloty was strong and everbody took loans denominated in foreign currencies. Now he has PLN 2 million worth of properties and PLN 4 million worth of mortgage loans.

does that make him 1 %

[Syt]

General consensus among people here is that it's not worth the effort as investment (return on investment is VERY slow, obviously) unless you plan very long term (income for children) or plan to sell the property at a profit later on, or can get the property dirt cheap (usually there's a reason for that, e.g. a lessee living there with a lifetime contract that they can transfer to family and a rent that was fixed in the late 60s).

Many people who rent out apartments in the city have inherited property, or bought a new apartment and now rent out the old one(s).

[Admiral Yi]

Biscuit owns several rentals.  IIRC he gets negative cash flow because he has short mortgages.

[Caliga]

Being a landlord is horrible... trust me.  Not worth it.  Buy REIT stocks if you want to invest in real estate, or if you must have something more tangible buy land.

[stjaba]

Lots of good information here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/30/business-finance-investing/ask-me-about-real-estate-investing-99351/.

[The Minsky Moment]

This is probably the best time to do it if you have the ready cash - interest rates are rock bottom, housing prices are still depressed, tougher underwriting is going to keep more people in rentals, and there are signs the market has bottomed out.

[crazy canuck]

This is probably the best time to do it if you have the ready cash - interest rates are rock bottom, housing prices are still depressed, tougher underwriting is going to keep more people in rentals, and there are signs the market has bottomed out.

Yeah agreed.  Make sure you have sufficient cash flow to cover unexpected maintenance/renovation costs.  If the housing market in the areas you buy recover you will be golden.  If you determine it cant get much worse then you have little to lose.   It is especially helpful if you are at all handy with household maintenance tasks so you dont have to spend as much on hiring contractors to do the inevitable work.

One of the main reasons I got out doing it myself.  But it is a decision I often regret given how much Vancouver property prices have increased since then.

[CountDeMoney]

Brush up on squatter and eviction laws.  That shit takes forever.

[Ed Anger]

Renting to military folk is slightly easier. If they step out of line, call the CO's office.

/rented out my 1st house for a while.