Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Income property - any good resources for start ups?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Income property - any good resources for start ups?

    As title states, just looking for some good resources (online?) for getting started with an income/rental property.

    Also feel free to post your success stories (or horror stories)!

    #2
    How much experience do you have fixing houses?

    What's your tool collection like? Picture hanging level? Building picture frames level? Building the wall that the picture is going to hang on level?
    AWD > RWD

    Comment


      #3
      there are actually already threads here on this.

      my wife and i flip homes on the side. so far, we have done well with it. we just started another house this week. i have had rentals. at one time five of them. now i have one. i kept it because its waterfront. i find rentals to be somewhat of a pain in the ass.

      once you get them set up, you just sit back and let the checks come in every month but there is always some shit fuck that flushed a beanie baby down the toilet and thinks you are responsible to go over there at 2 am to fix it.

      flips are good for us because we make a lot of money in a short period of time. unfortunately, to make cash, you need to bust your ass for a few months for each property.
      sigpic
      Gigitty Gigitty!!!!

      88 cabrio becoming alpina b6 3.5s transplanted s62
      92 Mtech 2 cabrio alpinweiss 770 code
      88 325ix coupe manual lachsilber/cardinal
      88 325ix coupe manual diamondschwartz/natur
      87 e30 m3 for parts lachsilber/cardinal(serial number 7)
      12 135i M sport cabrio grey/black

      Comment


        #4
        I have "some" experience with home construction. I have done quite a lot to my own home so I'm very confident in dealing with minor plumbing/construction repairs. Electrical stuff I would most likely leave to the experts.
        My wife is a Realtor so that gives us a good head start in learning the industry and processes.

        Comment


          #5
          It is not always what you know, but who you know.

          Your wife, with her professional experience, is a great start.
          ACS S3 Build / Dinan 5 E34

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by flyboyx View Post
            once you get them set up, you just sit back and let the checks come in every month but there is always some shit fuck that flushed a beanie baby down the toilet and thinks you are responsible to go over there at 2 am to fix it.
            This times a thousand. For example, I am renting a room to a college friend and she texted me on a saturday morning saying, "the water pipes are frozen. what can we do?" It took all I had to not responding with, "pay the 2 month of rent you owe." Instead I bought a small space heater and crawled around the crawlspace until I found the blockage and got it thawed.

            Sure it was an easy fix, but dealing with tenants can be a real crap shoot.
            sigpic
            1987 - 325i Convertible Delphin Auto [SOLD], 325i Convertible Delphin Manual [SOLD]
            1989 - 325i Convertible Bronzit m30b35 swapped [SCRAPPED], 325i Sedan Alpine Auto[DD]
            1991 - 325i Coupe Laguna Manual [Project], 535i Sedan Alpine [SCRAPPED]

            Comment


              #7
              I've often considered flipping houses. I have been in the home improvement business for nearly ten years now and the thought of having all of my money tied up in non-liquid assets where I've got to deal with people that don't want to pay rent or they break something every other week is pretty much guaranteed.

              Flipping houses allows you to make the money all at once, buy, renovate in 3 months or so, and sell. 2-3 a year and you're set. Build up a crew to help you do it along with a bunch of good subcontractors and you might not have to even work yourself one day. Much better being able to cash in every quarter and free up your money, at least that's what I think.

              Comment


                #8
                I could see this as an opportunity to make some more connections and then potentially get into flipping in the future. But that would require more work and in manufacturing operations I put in 50+ hrs per week as it is, so basically I would have to change careers 100%
                It would also be a hard move giving up the group rate insurance (as crappy as it is).

                Comment


                  #9
                  What types of houses are you looking to buy? Are you planning to buy fixers or turnkey? What types of renters are you looking to rent to? How long term do you plan to hold your properties? Cash or mortgage?

                  I have experience with both buy and hold and fix and flip. I am also a Realtor and I do more business for myself and other investors than I do normal "retail" home sales.

                  I am a flipper only because I am all cash and I need to sell the current one to buy the next one. I'm also a little different than most because I am in a much lower price range, I buy in the "bad" areas or areas that haven't quite turned around yet. I buy at rock bottom knowing I'll need to do a lot of rehab but set my budget accordingly. I buy very cheap, do a quality budget rehab then sell at a cheaper price point. I know going in that I'm only going to make $20k-40k per flip and I am fine with that, I do not go overboard on the rehab and keep my costs down. My target buyers are either investors who look to add a quality house to their portfolio and plan to rent to low income families (section 8 is like gold in my city) or first time home buyers who don't qualify for big mortgages. My city has a big problem with housing projects and has been trying to eliminate them so many non-profits have stepped up and created programs to help buyers move from low income hosing projects to home ownership, my houses fit right in that target group both price point and location. My city also has a huge hipster population who love to live in the seedy areas so my flips are also perfect for them.

                  One website that I have found that is dedicated to real estate investing is a site called https://www.biggerpockets.com/. It has a forum style format where you can ask questions and others can respond. There are also city/area subforums if you live or are working in an active enough area. I am not active on the site but it often pops up when I google investment related questions regarding my area. The community seems to be made up of mostly investors and real estate agents that work with investors. One thing I have noticed in my area at least is that there seem to be some wholesalers on there who post their properties up for sale on the site. Maybe if I took the time to sign up and explore the site I could explain it a little better but there is probably a good wealth of information on that site if you dig around it.

                  I also search craigslist in the real estate section. If you know what you're looking for you can sift through the bullshit postings to find some good candidates. Yes some of the houses posted there are the same as the ones in MLS but many investors just FSBO their properties when looking to liquidate and they post them all over craigslist, in my area at least.

                  As for having all of your money tied up in holding a house to rent. If you are buying cash you can always borrow against the house or take out a home equity line. I have an investor friend who I work with and he buys all cash then after he closes he turns around and takes out the equity line on the property. That is nice because he has the money sitting there waiting when he needs it. He adds two rentals to his portfolio a year and does very well on cash flow. This is also his only job and he himself can do any renovations or updates the properties might need. If I had the kind of cash he has I'd be doing more buy and holds.
                  2004 BMW e60 525i - Daily
                  1996 BMW e36 M3 - Toy
                  1994 Jeep Wrangler - Summer Toy
                  1993 Range Rover Classic - Handsome Looker that never gets driven

                  Comment


                    #10
                    For now I'm just looking at a rental that is just about to come onto market to create cash flow but buying via mortgage (80% most likely) and it already has 2 of 3 units rented out.
                    It seems like a good way to create consistent cash flow considring how dry the market is in my area right now. It seems there are way too many realtors and not enough sales, especially homes over 200k, and people are sitting for months or even years on 300k homes.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      that doesn't bode well for the flipping program. sounds like the market in michigan. if the numbers work, i say do it. hopefully, once the bills are paid every month, you can make a profit of 200+ on each unit.
                      sigpic
                      Gigitty Gigitty!!!!

                      88 cabrio becoming alpina b6 3.5s transplanted s62
                      92 Mtech 2 cabrio alpinweiss 770 code
                      88 325ix coupe manual lachsilber/cardinal
                      88 325ix coupe manual diamondschwartz/natur
                      87 e30 m3 for parts lachsilber/cardinal(serial number 7)
                      12 135i M sport cabrio grey/black

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by mjimport View Post
                        For now I'm just looking at a rental that is just about to come onto market to create cash flow but buying via mortgage (80% most likely) and it already has 2 of 3 units rented out.
                        It seems like a good way to create consistent cash flow considring how dry the market is in my area right now. It seems there are way too many realtors and not enough sales, especially homes over 200k, and people are sitting for months or even years on 300k homes.
                        That's the exact opposite of how it is here. We are seeing a serious lack of inventory in any price range so nothing is sitting on the market, many are going multiple offer during the first weekend if its a good house.

                        The people I know who are in the rental game say it is all about how many units you have, nobody is getting rich off of one or two rentals. At the same time, more units can also mean more headaches. It is nice to have multiple units in one property because as long as you don't have all three sitting empty you'll still get some cash coming in, if you can consistently keep all three rented then you're hopefully you'd really be bringing it in.
                        2004 BMW e60 525i - Daily
                        1996 BMW e36 M3 - Toy
                        1994 Jeep Wrangler - Summer Toy
                        1993 Range Rover Classic - Handsome Looker that never gets driven

                        Comment


                          #13
                          so it turns out the deal is at least financially feasible for me to buy this property.

                          One catch is that we have been told the current landlord has no annual lease contracts for the tenants, they pay month to month. On that note, now I'm wondering if he even collected security deposits.
                          I see this as a significant risk, but do you think that is a deal breaker? How easy do you think it would be to implement an annual, or at least 6 month commitments from the tenants? Is it possible to retroactively collect security deposits?
                          One tenant has been there for over a decade, not sure how she would react to a new landlord with new requirements.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            No one can know better than you can in that situation. And at the end of the day, it's your decision that you have to live with. I would collect the security deposits from the current land owner, not the tenants. Lol.

                            It sounds like you REALLY need to read up on PA tenant law.
                            AWD > RWD

                            Comment


                              #15
                              If this was easy, everyone would be doing it. Find a mentor. Know the laws. I can tell you PA tenant and rental laws and the courts overseeing them are very favorable to the tenant, paying or not.

                              There are folks living in foreclosures or rentals that are current or never plan to be. They are buying time in a free house.

                              As a starter, don't let a deadbeat who knows the law, the game, the swing of the courts better than you do.
                              ACS S3 Build / Dinan 5 E34

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X