Investment Property information

[MarinaFazer]

Hey guys,

Does anyone here own investment properties? If so, how did you start? With today's market, I think there is an opportunity to get something at a low price to buy and rent out. I have no idea what I'm doing and it's a fleeting idea, but worth looking in to.

Thanks!

ps: you can PM me as well if you'd rather not talk about it publicly.

 

[kustom17]

me too!

but there are so many variables it helps to talk to someone who knows how it works.

good luck

 

[cv_rider]

I looked into a few years ago. The whole real estate market is totally a different thing now, so probably what was true then was not true now. What was true then (especially in CA) was that it was impossible to cover the mortgage and other expenses with the rent. You would be subsidizing the renter. The only instance where this would make sense would be if the house was appreciating at a rate faster than your negative cash flow on the renter's subsidy. That may have been true for a while, but not now! House prices are down now, and I heard rents are up do to all those people thrown out of their houses, so it might start getting closer to break even. Even if you did break even, you'd want to think of being a landlord as something akin to a second job. My impression is that you will dedicate some serious time/energy to that endeavor.

 

[Ghost Weim]

There are some excellent opportunities out there right now. There are some properties in the town where I work that have gone to auction and have been sold for almost half their value - that indeed would be a good choice.

If you are contemplating making an investment, you need to befriend someone who can inspect the property you are interested in and give you a good evaluation. You need to know what will need replacing/fixing as well as need to know what you will need to bring up to code - as well as the costs associated with replacing/fixing and bringing up to code.

If you are a handy person, you can repair a lot of the "cosmetic" stuff yourself - which will save money but eat up a lot of your time. You also need to do some research on the taxes so that you can rent it out at a fair price and also profit from it.

Credit checks as well as references on your prospective tenants are a must! My family has been burned in the past.

Good luck!!

 

[Hellgate]

My wife owns two rental properties. One was purchased 6 years ago, the other 3 three years ago. She looked for neighborhoods that were in the process of "coming back" and bought smaller houses that needed cosmetic fixing. Even now the values are solid as the surrounding homes are $50K to $100K more. She has made 100% on one and about 80% on the other. Granted that is if she sells them She makes about 17% over mortgage and taxes each month. Not bad. She puts that money into a dedicated account for repairs. The plan is to hold these for another 10 to 15 years or so.