BonnieOutlaw

Wow...looks like phknlwyr and I do the same thing for a living. What are the odds? LOL I'm more retail than anything else though.

Hyper, I guess in my mind it truly depends on how much disposable income you have. The best/easiest way to make money would be to buy one out of foreclosure, do the minimal costmetics to it and rent it out. Let me warn you though...that in my area anyway....anybody worth a sh!t is taking advantage of the low interest rates and buying their own homes. You can combat that with location to a certain extent. It's all about minimizing risk. To get decent people in there, you could advertise on your own, or hook up with a realitor. Many large corporations rent houses for people being relocated. That would almost be your safest bet.

We were in this on a personal level for a few years now...owned a 4 apartment unit in a small town. Last summer, and I kid you not - our options for one unit included couples with a dog or cat (ummm no!), some single lady who could probably swing the monthly rental if she decided not to eat anymore, and one couple where the lady was on social services. We didn't want ANY of them, but went with the social services lady because you can set the payments up to come directly to you.

And I can't warn you enough about down time. Some of these losers literally walk away and leave all their crap in there. It takes a full 8 to 10 hour day just to get their sh!t out of the way (thrown in the trash) so you can begin repainting. You have to float that part of the income until you can re-let. Last year, JB and I ended up floating 2 houses because good tenants just weren't out there and we were trying to be picky.

Which brings me to another thing...how handy are you? If you're not, you're going to spend a TON of money on repairs.

And finally, the lease form. I can't express to you enough how important it is to have a good lease form. And don't assume it's good because it was drafted by a lawyer. I've cringed at some of the forms I see. Remember, not everybody graduated at the top of their class.

BonnieOutlaw

I mis-represented myself...I'm not a lawyer. I worked in our legal dept for years and now I'm in finance. Not that it matters.

Just be careful...and think long and hard. If you work full time, at times it's like having 2 full time jobs.

georges

I rest my case counselor, you're right.

hugetime1

I don't do the business some of these guys do but i have had my share of realestate successes. let me tell you what i have learned over time. make sure you accumulate enough money in a luquid account because things can and do go wrong. a furnace could go, down here in florida an air conditioning unit could go, you may have to evict cubans that don't pay there rent or the cops could wreck the place arresting your tennents and leave you holding the bag. I will say that i never had tennent problems until now but i inherited these tennent when i bought the place, just do a good job screening your tennents, get big security deposits, larger than the rent. if i am renting a place for $1000 I will get 1500 security, this will save you alot of head ache later. if you do this they will never skip on the last months rent. another thing you want to do is find some one in the mortgage biz that would be willing to do credit checks for you. this will tell you alot about a person.

buck183

LOL...I knew this was coming from someone.

That's not something we have to worry about here Nort. No offense, but I'd like to keep it that way too.

It's all relative to income vs. cost of living. 200k a year income out there is equivalent to 50k a year here. We can still buy the same amount of stuff, just for less.

Buck

Fast Shafts

I would recommend reading "Successful Real Estate Investing, How to avoid the 75 most costly Mistakes Every Investor Makes" by Robert Shemin. It will be the best $ 16.00 you'll spend. Shemin touches on all the points that have been mentioned in the above threads.
The worst thing you could do is dump an entire "inheritance" on something you could get burned on. I'd start off with a "slum lord special", a $50-70,000 house. Learn from your mistakes on these houses, not a $190,000 house.
Good luck!

audacity

RG has it right!...i have a 200k rental(1400 a month)!...it sucks!...your better off having 3-4 homes totaling 200k..things suck when you go 3 months w/o renting...then get renters that trash it...also seems like people renting a 200k house are more apt to get in over their heads.

600HPS

I THINK THE IDEA OF HAVING RENTAL UNITS IS GREAT FOR A LONG TERM INVESTMENT! I HAS 3 SINGLE HOMES THAT MAKE ME DOUBLE WHAT MY NOTE IS. I HAVE BEEN LUCKY TO HAVE AWESOME TENANTS THAT PAY 3 MONTHS IN ADVANCE, AND TAKE CARE OF THE PROPERTIES LIKE THEY OWN THEM. I HOPE THEY RENT FROM ME FOR ANOTHER 7 YEARS . AT WHICH I WILL OWN THEM. THE ONLY THING THAT WORRIES ME ABOUT RENTALS IS HAVING A RENTER FROM HELL! TOM P.S. I SEE THAT WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON TO TALK ABOUT.