Quote:
Originally Posted by Seahawk
The financial numbers have to make sense, etc., pretty much a given. There are any number of really good websites that can help crunch the tax math, the % of occupancy math, etc.
I am also sure that the practical advice you'll get here will be invaluable.
Having owned rental property in the past (I do not now), the number one question you have to ask yourself is, "Do you have the personality to be a landlord?"
I did not. I bought more sad stories than Oprah, found myself willing to forgive rather than enforce where some tenants were concerned.
I do not like being a harda$$, which is often the exact right tact.
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This is tough, I too have had the same problem. but after more than 15 years of landlording, hearing every sob story there is to hear, and getting screwed in more ways than I ever thought possible, it is getting easier.
Be prepared to handle a number of situations that you have never even imagined before. People are strange. You have to be willing to either write the checks for clogged pipes, faulty toilets, racoons in the trash, leaky roofs, electrical woes... etc, or drop whatever you are doing and make the repairs yourself. You either pay with your profit, or you pay with your time. There will be times where all is quiet, and great, and there will be times where you will just want to give up ( I'm there now) .
The money has to make sense. I know of quite a few people who got into it , and just could not make the numbers work, and ended up in the red every year, most of them won't swing their own hammer, paintbrush, or poopie pipe unclogger.
Be prepared, for a Saturday morning, car all packed, kids in the car, ready to go on vacation, when the phone rings.... It happens .
You will be amazed that the carpet that you had managed to keep nice, and stain free for 10 years, will need replaced within 6 months. The knob on the shower will somehow fall off, and it will never be the tenants fault.
Be ready to have to strap on a set, and go collect money. Read up about eviction laws, tenants rights, etc...
My situation will be slightly different than yours, and we do mostly low income , in the city , but I don't know of a single landlord without stories to tell.
Think it through carefully, it has changed me as a person, and maybe not for the better. Best of luck.