Buying another house

[scott degroot]

Put in a offer on an investment property yesterday. It's a foreclosure and needs a little sweat equity but is overall in good condition. Plan is to rent it out and see what the market looks like in 10 years. It's my first venture into something like this and am a bit nervous about it but no risk=no reward so.....

 

[Jacob Dryer]

My rental property has been one of my best investments in life. Granted I'm pretty young (29) and bought it at 22 as my primary residence. But I put a lot of work into and when it came time to move we hung on to it, and have been renting it for well above the mortgage for about 4 years now. On top of that the appraisal came in significantly higher than what it was purchased for since we also got it as a foreclosure.



Are you planning to manage it yourself or pay a company?

 

[scott degroot]

Gonna try managing it ourselves and see how that goes. We have spoken with our lawyer already about tenant agreements and for a single property none of it seems to terribly complicated so hopefully it won't be too difficult

 

[Jacob Dryer]

I wish I could manage it myself.. would have saved me a ton of money over the years. But being cross country from the property makes it more hassle than its worth. Would have saved me on some stupid repair work too.. $85 to replace a bad light switch. Not upset about having to pay a pro the going rate, but I could have done it for $3 if I was local.



As long as good renters are in it should be an easy process.. it's if you end up with someone bad that it becomes an issue. From my understanding almost all the laws are in favor of the tenant so it takes a long time to win any judgement again them or to evict.

 

[EddieS'04]

From my understanding almost all the laws are in favor of the tenant so it takes a long time to win any judgement again them or to evict.

JD, your right about that. A freind went through that. He found that the renters had 4 dobermans in the house, 24/7. He had to replace carpets and all the doors, inside.



I dont think he ever got complete compensation.

 

[Mark Stadnicki]

I've been renting my first house for about a year now. I have a property manager taking care of everything. All I see is the money being deposited into my account. I built that house in 1996 so I'm able to charge twice my mortgage for it. Something you may want to look into is a home warranty, it cost under $500 per year with a $100 deductable. Worth it to me, I don't get the phone calls at 0200 for something not working. The property manager does the tenent finding, backround checks, checks on the property, all paperwork for taxes and it only costs 10% of the rent. I still check on the house myself since it is on my way home and my old neighbors call me if they see something not right. It's a win-win situation.



I thought about selling it if the market changes but not one person I've spoke too thought it was a good idea. They say hold on to it...