Real Estate Investing

[bimmer456]

So I found out single family homes aren’t subject to rent control in CA. What do you guys think is it worth it to buy a bunch of houses to rent out rather than apartments?

[ppointer]

I used to think owning a bunch of rental homes was a reasonable strategy for achieving financial independence. And then, Covid showed up and the government illegally suspended the requirement of tenants to pay their rent. Glad I didn't own any rental properties at the time.

Then, my dad passed away and we moved our youngest into his condo. Immediately the AC died just before summer set in. That was rather expensive. After the AC was replaced, someone smelled gas around the cooktop, and we learned the cooktop needed to be replaced. Then fall set in and the heater failed, though the repair was inexpensive. Then over the Christmas holiday, the clothes washer took a dump and blew a load of water down the hall. All of the hallway wood flooring needs to be replaced, as well as the flooring in the laundry room -- about $5k.

Condo is in Ohio and we live in FL. So, there is the remoteness issue. Luckily we have a sympathetic tenant!

[TboneS54]

Best is to rent out parking spaces (lot) or mobile home park (lot).

Converting my first home, a condo, into a rental has been the best thing for my life. But things were different then: lower prices, lower rates. With everything so over priced, it must be hard to find deals. Really need to have a trick up your sleeve like an ability to rehab a distressed property.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

idk man, youll need a LOT more information than you can find on bimmerpost.

all I have to say is being a landlord is a major headache

[UncleWede]

Cali still has the 10%/yr cap.

Many local cities are going above and beyond that: I'm capped at 4% in Oxnard, although my Bakersfield is still set at 10%

Don't forget 2 months/$5,000 if you evict to do repairs, or move in family.

I just got done dumping 25K into a condo, after fighting to evict a non-paying tenant, who got to live in my place for 2 more months free. Then they wanted their deposit back . . . I had 2300 in just cleaning, so they didn't get anything. They did threaten to sue me for the deposit, and I re-sent the bill for cleaning.

[2000cs]

REIT

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Cali still has the 10%/yr cap.

Many local cities are going above and beyond that: I'm capped at 4% in Oxnard, although my Bakersfield is still set at 10%

Don't forget 2 months/$5,000 if you evict to do repairs, or move in family.

I just got done dumping 25K into a condo, after fighting to evict a non-paying tenant, who got to live in my place for 2 more months free. Then they wanted their deposit back . . . I had 2300 in just cleaning, so they didn't get anything. They did threaten to sue me for the deposit, and I re-sent the bill for cleaning.

That only applies to multi family. Single family homes have no rent control.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

idk man, youll need a LOT more information than you can find on bimmerpost.

all I have to say is being a landlord is a major headache

I know retired people who have apartments as their retirement income. Can be a pain though now with all the new laws but it looks like single family homes don’t have as many restrictions.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

I know retired people who have apartments as their retirement income. Can be a pain though now with all the new laws but it looks like single family homes don’t have as many restrictions.

i feel you man, it just can't be that simple.

many people make statements like this but you are talking about at least a 200k investment per property. it has to be way more complex to get going.

its like man I know these retired people, who have stocks thats their retirement income.

not being a dick, but you need more concreate plans.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

i feel you man, it just can't be that simple.

many people make statements like this but you are talking about at least a 200k investment per property. it has to be way more complex to get going.

its like man I know these retired people, who have stocks thats their retirement income.

not being a dick, but you need more concreate plans.

It looks like I'll be inheriting some income property at some point from my parents, though they aren't exactly managing things all that well being that they're old and not as savvy as they used to be. And the new laws mean we no longer inherit their grandfathered property tax. So maybe I'll just sell everything and buy a few single family homes so I can hike the rent as high as the market allows.

[3.0L]

My brother-in-law inherited a nice sum back in 2004. He decided to purchase a bunch of single-family homes, rent them out and retire. Then 2009 happened. He lost everything and had to go back to work.

I'm not suggesting to not buy some real estate and then rent it out. I'm just saying don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

[dreamingat30fps]

I was in the landlord business for probably less than a year back around 2011. I had a condo I was upside down on thanks to 2008. We had no desire to stay there more than a couple of years and we had already been there like 5+ and the area went to shit with the 2008 crash, several places turned into like low income housing. Anyways we needed to GTFO.

Anyways bought our current home and attempted to rent the condo. Never again. What a pita!

I have also looked into rentals as potential income stream but as a layman who doesn't know anything about that business. The returns just seem like crap. If I had a $500k property I would have to rent it out for over $4k/mo to get 10% on my money and that's assuming no mortgage and not counting expenses, taxes etc. PLUS my time and hassle otherwise I would need a property manager which would eat into the revenue even more. My robo stock investments have done better than 10% on average since like 2016 and I don't do shit. Of course that's a way oversimplified example, but still with my limited hands on experience of the hassles of landlording... I would need waaaaay more than a 10% return to make it worthwhile.

Obviously there's people who make a lot of money on real estate but doesn't seem all that great for an average person. At least not for me and not at this time.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I was in the landlord business for probably less than a year back around 2011. I had a condo I was upside down on thanks to 2008. We had no desire to stay there more than a couple of years and we had already been there like 5+ and the area went to shit with the 2008 crash, several places turned into like low income housing. Anyways we needed to GTFO.

Anyways bought our current home and attempted to rent the condo. Never again. What a pita!

I have also looked into rentals as potential income stream but as a layman who doesn't know anything about that business. The returns just seem like crap. If I had a $500k property I would have to rent it out for over $4k/mo to get 10% on my money and that's assuming no mortgage and not counting expenses, taxes etc. PLUS my time and hassle otherwise I would need a property manager which would eat into the revenue even more. My robo stock investments have done better than 10% on average since like 2016 and I don't do shit. Of course that's a way oversimplified example, but still with my limited hands on experience of the hassles of landlording... I would need waaaaay more than a 10% return to make it worthwhile.

Obviously there's people who make a lot of money on real estate but doesn't seem all that great for an average person. At least not for me and not at this time.

Yeah I don’t do squat and I made 300 percent return on stocks lol.

[vreihen16]

Tenants and squatters have more rights than property owners in your state. Watch a few episodes of Judge Judy to see how seemingly-normal tenants turn into monsters who don't pay rent, can't be evicted for years, and leave the property utterly destroyed when they finally do vacate.

I second the REIT thing if you really want to play in this pool....

[spazzyfry123]

Buy tracts of land, hold, and wait. Make friends with the zoning departments to make educated purchases for future plans. Buddy of mine recently sold off part of a 40-odd acre plat that everyone thought he was nuts to buy ten years ago. Sold it to Publix for many times more than he had in it.

I've lusted on the idea of picking up a condo/cabin/whatever with its primary use being short term rentals, but secondarily giving us a place to escape to.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Buy tracts of land, hold, and wait. Make friends with the zoning departments to make educated purchases for future plans. Buddy of mine recently sold off part of a 40-odd acre plat that everyone thought he was nuts to buy ten years ago. Sold it to Publix for many times more than he had in it.

I've lusted on the idea of picking up a condo/cabin/whatever with its primary use being short term rentals, but secondarily giving us a place to escape to.

Holding and waiting on a piece of land that doesn’t generate cash flow isn’t ideal though unless you buy something dirt cheap like $2 or $3k worth of land where it’s not a ton of money tied up in it and then maybe in a few years sell for $50k

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

Holding and waiting on a piece of land that doesn’t generate cash flow isn’t ideal though unless you buy something dirt cheap like $2 or $3k worth of land where it’s not a ton of money tied up in it and then maybe in a few years sell for $50k

Something to be said for turning five figures into seven figures in about ten years. All investments are a gamble!

[P1]

It just sounds like a major headache. I have no desire in being a slumlord or deal with bums renting an Airbnb. Everyone I know who tried this Airbnb or house rental thing has either exited or just kept the house for their own use.

Why add stress and hassle to your life?

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I was in the landlord business for probably less than a year back around 2011. I had a condo I was upside down on thanks to 2008. We had no desire to stay there more than a couple of years and we had already been there like 5+ and the area went to shit with the 2008 crash, several places turned into like low income housing. Anyways we needed to GTFO.

Anyways bought our current home and attempted to rent the condo. Never again. What a pita!

I have also looked into rentals as potential income stream but as a layman who doesn't know anything about that business. The returns just seem like crap. If I had a $500k property I would have to rent it out for over $4k/mo to get 10% on my money and that's assuming no mortgage and not counting expenses, taxes etc. PLUS my time and hassle otherwise I would need a property manager which would eat into the revenue even more. My robo stock investments have done better than 10% on average since like 2016 and I don't do shit. Of course that's a way oversimplified example, but still with my limited hands on experience of the hassles of landlording... I would need waaaaay more than a 10% return to make it worthwhile.

Obviously there's people who make a lot of money on real estate but doesn't seem all that great for an average person. At least not for me and not at this time.

We put our house on the rental market in early 2004 after moving into our current house. I used a property management firm to find a renter and collect the rent, etc. Near the end of the 1st year the management firm notified me that the tenant was late with the rent. So, I hopped in my car and paid a visit to our property. The tenant was long gone and the house was filthy. Their deposit covered the unpaid last month, but we still had to clean the house.

I called my management dude and told him to sell the house. We had lived in it for 20 years, plus the additional rental year, so the remaining mortgage was small plus the market was pretty strong. We came out of it okay. But never again.