how about being a landlord - would you do it?

I did it for years and liked. BUT I only rented to College Students as that is where the houses war doing in that area. Close to the college.
Never had any problems. Sometimes it might get hard during the summer, but I had some students renting for summer school, so there was always somebody there.
I rented to 6 students at a time, It was a big old house. LOL LOTS of BIG bedrooms.

We are sort of in that situation. We moved the MIL to our farm that had a nice trailer for her that can also be a rental. She only gets a pittance in Social Security and we claim her as a dependant on taxes since we are supporting her but the tax benefit wasnt as great as I hoped for. Depreciation on the rental can help but it still didnt have a big impact tax wise...and we have put in all kinds of extras that cost money because...well...shes the MIL.

I used to own 3 rental properties and though I made money, I hated to hear the phone ring and Ozarks Tom's storey of driving cross town to put the chain back on the toilet handle rings very true and I wouldnt want to be in that situation again.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

Something to consider, if you ever had to evict your tenents they'd know where you lived.

I have cleaned the houses for the landlords after the renters moved out. Don't want to be a landlord.

I am a landlord, not been an easy ride, but it does pay. You just have to be able to pay the bills if your property is empty, make sure your contract is good, you vet potential tenants very well, and for when things go wrong make sure you have a good plan. Speak to good quality debt collector, etc so that you do things in a way that helps them to help you. First time I had a problem I had not done this. Put in your contract that the tenant will pay for costs of eviction, debt collection. Have your contract read by a good lawyer before you use it.
I will as soon as I find the cash by another property

I've been a landlord for 10 days. Bought a farm with a house I don't need, existing tenants, kept them on for the time being until I can sever off the house.

Day 2, the septic tank plugged, turned out they'd been after the previous owner for a month to get it cleaned out.
This past Saturday, they had 5 different police cruisers out on two different occasions about a dispute they were having over a vehicle they bought and didn't pay for that ended up (second visit) with the previous owner breaking a window out of the house and taking a bunch of their stuff. Theoretically, anyway. Police don't believe them (but did believe the huge bag of pot they found while looking for clues)

Not going to be a landlord any longer than possible.

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The internet - fueling paranoia and misinformation since 1873.

It all depends on your screening. I am fortunate to have A+ tenants that have never called me with any issue. They also pay their rent on time, sometimes paying 6 months in advance all at once. My mother owns 8 properties, has a very low turn over rate and rarely has an issue.

There is a certain responsibility on the landlords part to treat people properly, and you get that treatment back. I drop of whole hams at x mas with a big red bow around them, and people really appreciate that. We don't raise the rent on tenants and that helps retain the great ones. If someone chooses to move, the rent is raised as new people come in.

Of course the type of home and the type of neighborhood your home is in also plays a large factor in who you attract.

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"For if you start dancing on tables, fanning yourself, feeling sleepy when you pick up a book... making love whenever you feel like it, then you know. The south has got you.”

Yes I agree. And I would get students that were referred by Student housing dept.
And when I was renting to College Students. I only had girls renting the place. And they were nice, did the cleaning around the house, did not have to come in and wonder what was going to be dirty.
They had full run of the place, used the dished that my Grandmother did, and kept the place pretty neat also.

I have a long history of being a landlord. I am not very good at evaluating possible tenants but I would not want to be without the rentals. To me it is a business. I run it like one. I am not the tenants friend. I will not tolerate a lot of abuse of the rental agreements unless there are extenuating circumstances. Yes, I have been beaten out of some money over the years but the gains far outweigh losses. The key IMO to having rentals is to have them at the price range where the markets exist. Most people pay too much for a potential rental home and then overprice the rent. The overpriced rent creates a hardship on the tenant and the tenant gets behind and then ousted. If you are interested in buying a rental, divide 100 into the purchase price. If you can get that much rent easily then buy the property. If that much rent is a strain on the average tenant that you anticipate getting then do not buy the home. You will not get a lot of property bought with this rule of thumb guide but if you do then everything should work out just fine.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

That's easy, because they don't have the down payment that is needed to buy a house. My Kids go here, I and DH have worked hard to get to were we are. My kids are going to have to work too.

Do you have any property management companies in your area? If so, you might ask them for a quote. You may be able to outsource the landlording for a percentage of the income.

If you're doing it yourself, be sure to run a background check on your tenants and call the previous landlord. When you have a potential tenant look at the place, duck out and go peek at the inside of their car. If it's a total mess, you may not want to rent to them, because the inside of the house will probably end up looking like that, too.

Economically, there is a very high demand for rental property these days because banks have made it much, much harder for people to buy homes. That, combined with a lot of people still feeling uncertain about the economy, has driven up demand.

Good luck!

Lots and lots of negatives, but at the same time... You'd get to pick your neighbors!

I would recommend avoiding being a landlord if possible. I was for a long time. There were good tenants and there were bad tenants. The few bad ones far made up for the good. In the years since our state government has put through a huge number of laws that are in favor of tenant rights and violate landlord rights. This has dried up the housing market. Landlords don't want to rent or charge very high rents. Now the government complains that there isn't sufficient housing. It was their own fault. A case of unintended consequences. If at all possible, neither a rentor nor a landlord be.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Like everyone else says, it all depends on the tenant. Hold out for a good one even if it takes 6 months, or you have to cut rent to entice them in. It is worth it in the long run. Last spring, we spent two months of weekends, 2000 miles on the car, and several thousands fixing up our rental after we evicted the tenants. Don't expect any income until it is paid off (unless you reamortize, but that is another topic), anything before that will be needed for repairs ect.

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http://www.lindsayfarmonsilvercreek.blogspot.com/

I agree.I will never do it again.

Oh Lord, never again. Never ever again. I sure wish I had listened to the ones who warned me but of course I didn't. You probably wont either.

We have had rentals, and out of about 8 renters, we had two bad ones, and had to evict one of them. In one, the deposit was able to cover most of the damage, on the other we lost a few months of rent and about $5000 in damage to the house. It seemed for us that situations always arose at the wrong time. My husband couldn't bring me home from the hospital after the birth of my 2nd child because a tenant decided to move out that day, we've had to cancel plans to take care of rental situations and such. If the bad situations won't stress you out, then it can be profitable.

I would only advertise by word of mouth. Once you advertise, you can't discriminate, and checking someones background is difficult - no one is going to list bad references and often friends of the tenant will lie for them. If you do rent make sure you limit the number of residents, sometimes zoning can help with this.

A home in our town was rented out and when it caught fire due to illegal activity, the insurance would not pay, so the owners lost a lot on that one since the tenant was in jail.

My parents had several rental homes a while back and used a corporation for their rentals. If someone is injured in your rental and gets an large enough settlement, you could lose everything. So if you do rent, make sure it is insured as a rental property (and have the property divided off separately from yours for tax purposes) and that you have sufficient insurance. Taxes and insurance on a rental are significantly higher than on a home you live in.

Dawn