I am looking at buying some and would like to get some feedback from someone who owns rentals.

If you do can you e-mail me thanks.


AdTechArms

It would be a wonderful way to make money if you didn't need tenants to pay the rent.  It's hard to tell the good ones from the slob that will wreck everything & always be late with the rent.  It's also mearly impossible to evict the rotten ones.

Best of luck.

Oh yes.  Don't rent to friends.  Ever.  And always use a formal contract.

My families experience:  Don't do it.

My mom rented Grandma's old house to woman with two young daughters under subsidized housing (section or title 8).

She very quickly shacked up with a dirtbag who had a dangerous teenage son who terrorized the neighborhood.  She became a crack addict and turned Grandma's house into a crack house.  It took six months to get here out, and we had to replace all horizontal surfaces and a few vertical ones as well.

The previous tenants asked permission to get a puppy, as the next door neighbor (a fellow renter) had one.  Well, OK.  That puppy turned into two HUGE Rottweilers.  This guy grew pot in the back bedrooms - a real grow operation.  He left suddenly in the middle of the night leaving all the black plastic on the bedroom walls.

So, the little bit of profit we made from good renters was wiped out by by the several really bad ones.  It was an expensive lesson in the virtues of our fellow man.    

EDIT:  and never, EVER, rent to family.  This is a business.  Long story.

Unless you plan on being a full time landlord forget it. I kept my last house when I moved to a new one (900 miles away). Being in a private lake community I thought it would be a good idea, and pay itself off.... Boy, what a mistake! 1st year tenants were in the medical professions. They painted the kitchen ceiling- used latex over the oil that was on there- it all peeled, so they called the Town and said paint was peeling! Town sends me an infraction! $600 later, they decide they want a new refridgerator (old one works fine) They stop paying rent.... It snows, they call me and ask when I am gonna heve it shoveled!! And they were much better than the second tenant...

He moves in, proceeds to rebuild a motorcycle on the living room carpet (brand new since last tenant had the "mishap" with the wood stove... then the place turns into the hang out for the local motorcycle gang, lawn turns into forest- 4 feet tall, violating the community's standards maintenance, on parking etc... more fines... they flush something unknown down the septic (motor oil?) ruins the system, it overflows, they call the town, more fines, $8,000 in engineered system, then the jerk stops paying rent (lost job), can't evict for 3 months (due process) etc.etc.. I fly out there with "intent". I find out the ass has let a water leak in basement go unrepaired- finished basement has 4 feet of water in it! He leaves (very dramatic).
I am out 5 months rent on the year, $8000. in septic system repair, plus need to replace every carpet in house, and repair 'fist' holes in every wall- and I do mean every wall. Basement needs a complete tear out and replacement Total damage is over $15,000 dollars.
In 2 years I lose over 28,000 dollars in fines, damage, and outright negligence. Both of these Tenants came with "excellent" references, and paid a 2 month security up front. Both did more damage than their security would ever cover... Lawyer advised to "let it go" since his costs are mine, and tenant has nothing to recover... What a joke!
I finally sold the house. Best move I made and lesson learned.
I STRONGLY advise you against becoming a landlord unless you live in the same house, or next door! Even then its a bad idea- they will destroy your place.

In keeping with this thread--I had thought about eventually (when I am done with residency and start making a little money) buying a vacation condo somewhere warm with good fishing (Gulf Coast FL?--any other suggestions?  I have to admit it is not quite so warm, but I love the Outer Banks).  I had thought about using it a few weeks a year, and the remainder of the year or season, renting it out to help make the payments.

Any opinions on that?

best advise........ stick with what you know. If you can do your own repairs you may be ok.....but only if you can manage the property..
if you won't enforce the terms of the contract even the smallest items you're going to LOSE YOUR SHIRT. if you are a mason stick to laying brick, if you're an M.D. just make people feel better..... etc.
this business isn't for every one
if you're not willing to evict your mother. Don't get into it.
You can not rent property and think you're gonna put out the GONE FISHIN' sign.
                            Good Luck
                           TNT REHAB CO.    
                           URBAN DEVELOPER

[50]

Get a local landlord (typically a realtor) on comission.  If he has no interest in keeping the place in good, rentable shape, he probably won't.

I own several houses that I rent. I do it all myself without benefit of a rental agency. Take about an hour a week to stay on top of.

The key is pre-screening your tenants and drawing out what is expected of them from the start in the lease. Typically I am making between $150 - $225 a month over each units payment.

Never had one of those dreaded "3am toilet blew up" calls either and I've been active for about five years.

Just started renting my old house.  So far, so good.  Does anybody know what the tax advantages are? Can the value of the house be written off over time?

BTW, You guys have me spooked, had I read this before, I may not have rented.  Nothing is without risk though, I guess.

Don't do it.  Invest in the S&P 500 where the risk/reward ratio is realistic.  My story probably isn't that bad, but here it is.  I rented my house through a REALTOR (they got 10%) in NC when I moved to texas and after my divorce.  The first tenants were good.  The wife was Japanese and their shoes were on the front porch.  The house was taken care of, and they were very clean.  The next tenant turned the lawn I worked so hard on into a parking lot for leaky fixer-upper autos, and absconded without paying the last two months rent.  I ended selling the house for a minor loss at a time when I was tight for cash.  I'd virtually rebuilt it from the ground up after an immense amount of labor.

This isn't a rental story, but it's close:

My wife had a property from her first marriage which she sold and financed for the new owner.  He fell behind and let a vagrant live there.  This guy parked a batch of derelict autos and other crap on the property, and later tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists in the living room while positioned in an easy chair.  Cop, news, lots of unwanted attention, etc.  We regained the property under the terms of the loan, but had to clean up the mess, including the large pool of blood and all the damage to walls, cooler etc.  It was virtually gutted.  We may be selling this property this month, but it has been a major PITA.

I used to have a fair amount of rental property & after all the headaches I think all the money I made was from reselling them at higher price.

Now my only tenants are myself!

I help my wife and her family manage her family's apartment complex, 13 units.  Here is some real hard learn advice.
1) If you can avoid it, don't rent to anyone that is on welfare, section 8 etc. It doesn't take much for them to bring the wrathe of the govt on you, just a little word from these people and the you have had it. It will take months to get rid of them, if you can.
2)screen your tenets VERY carefully. Interview EVERYBODY that is going to be living there and make sure you write it in their contract so that no extra people end up living their.
3)If you are going to evict a tenent, go thru small claims court.

Go get a book on managing appartmnts in your area for applicable laws etc.

Have you considered commercial property?

Leasing office space to someone whose business depends on the appearance of their office might be less of a headache than renting a duplex to the local Hell's Angels chapter.

Just a thought.

I had the best rental property experience any guy could hope for.  When I married, my wife brought in a very upscale 2BR/2BATH/2STORY townhome.  Gold-plated toilet fixtures, Sub-Zero built ins, high masonry fenced backyard etc.  In a secure, patrolled upscale community with PGA golf course, country clubs...you get the idea.  Anyway...we decided to keep it and lease it.  It's one-half block from the Byron Nelson and parking during the tournament can't be beat.  So we got a realtor and interviewed the usual doctors, professionals, couple of Cowboy players etc.  Like I said it's a nice place.

After hearing more BS from those folks, we interviewed on attractive young lady who said she was an entertainer.  Asked the obvious question and BINGO!...topless dancer at the best club in town.  She was so upfront about the whole deal my wife decided to lease to her.

Thus began a string of the best tenants you could ask for.  They kept that place antiseptically clean.  No drugs, no problems with the neighbors, no surprises.  When one dancer tenant left they always had another entertainer to take their place.  Always paid on-time in cash.

The few times there was a problem with an appliance the fix-it visit was heaven.  More than once her friends were relaxing getting sun au naturel n the fenced backyard.  I didn't mind the teasing.

We moved to the country the other side of Dallas and sold the property a few years ago.  I'd do it again in a flash!

There is some very good advise on here, but don't let it scare you.  Just go in with your eyes WIDE open.  The key, as said earlier, is to screen, screen and then screen your tennents again!  Don't take anybody on gov't assistance.  They are very used to the idea that everyone owes them something and will be nothing but problems.

I have 3 rentals right now and I've had a few problems over the years, but nothing that doesn't make taking the depreciation on the property, accumulation of equity and many other tax benefits worth the effort.

Just make sure you can get enough rent to cover ALL your costs including the carrying costs for the vacancy rate in your area and Screen your tennents and get a hefty security deposit.  Know your laws as well.  Colorado's laws for instance generally favor the landlord.  The east coast's laws generally lean more towards the tennent.

Hope this helps.