I’ve stated it is work. But I probably average 10 hours per month. Yes, there are busy times. But most months it’s mostly nothing. Given the reward…. I would absolutely do it again. In fact, I’d buy more if I could go back. If anyone wants to email offline I’m happy to share numbers. YMMV, but rentals have been a game changer for me.

There are two ways to go about this and one is being a mostly passive landlord and paying a Property Manager and the other is being your own PM. Being a PM is for sure a job and you need to be available when something breaks especially if something is leaking or little problems become big problems quickly. Ask yourself if you could evict someone if it was absolutely needed without going thru a lot of drama yourself. If you can't, then pay a GOOD Property Manager.

I have been paid every month for 15 years on my first property, no vacancies, and only changed Tenants once. I've had a few small repairs and one big one, had to replace the roof. The property has tripled in value. I wish they were all this easy.

I then added a duplex and was my own PM. They bugged me enough with dumb questions and I realized the 10% I was paying the out of town PM was worth it. Then the cheap ass Tenants went on vacation in the winter when it was 0°, turned off all the heat and all the pipes busted. Yes some people are dumb.

My worst experience will be this week. The guy paid on time for 8 years, but he didn't live there and he wasn't taking care of it. I noticed it was becoming a problem and notified him in advance I needed to go in for a maintenance issue. Found no running water or electricity and 2 feet of trash in every room. Guy didn't have any furniture in the house but he had a nice collection of 50 bolt action rifles! (house is in Texas). Gave him 30 day notice, he moved out and have to clean up starting tomorrow.

I keep adding units and financially it is working out very well, but understand up front it is work.

quote:

Originally posted by ibanda:


I keep adding units and financially it is working out very well, but understand up front it is work.

My one uncle has something like 12-15 rental properties and made it work well for him but it was a full time job for him. The OP is asking about doing this on the side with one unit. My experience with being a one-unit-landlord is that ultimately it just wasn't worth the hassle and I was grateful I was able to catch the huge RE wave in 2021 and sell the place for way more than I had ever hoped.

I'm not a landlord, missed my chance. But historical records show rentals are near the top of how people become wealthy in this country.

I do have a cousin who went that route. Both husband and wife worked their jobs, lived on one income. Bought their first house. Then bought a second house and rented the first house. Kept repeating that until they bought an apartment building. Etc.

Good advice thus far. During my days as a PI, my partner and I did lots of work for land lords and property managers. Mainly evictions. My partner served the papers while I stood back with an 870 handy, ready to repel pit bulls. We told all our clients that 6 months of income verification from tenants, a credit check and having us talk to any previous land lords the tenant would list to be money well spent. Often, we would evict a tenant from one apartment and 6 months later evict them again from another clients property across town. The land lords just did not want to do the due diligence to get quality tenants.
And make sure you actually inspect your property inside and out from time to time. It will demonstrate that you want the property kept up and give you a leg up on potential problems. This was another thing our clients did not do often enough.
Another scam: A credit worthy person (often a female) with a good background would rent a place from our clients, and then let a whole host of scumbags move in. Make sure your rental contract states that all occupants be fully IDed and background checked.

If you decide to proceed or want to discuss over the phone let me know. It can be a game changer financially and while it’s work at times, it isn’t all the time. My day job includes being on call all the time, and I’m used to solving problems. I’m also somewhat handy, so it works out. If you’re completely hands off and not handy, the numbers have to be a lot better. I prefer to self manage, and have gotten used to managing efficiently.

Thanks to all for the responses. In my community, all renters need to get screened by the board/property management group. Felons cannot be tenants and I think certain charges like domestic disqualify you from being a tenant. I realize there are ways around this, but the board has their process but I'd intend to have my own as well.

I'm having a hard time convincing myself to keep this unit. Part of me believes the market is inflated and selling the unit allows me to take the inflated proceeds and roll them in to the new property. Cashing out is certainly the easy move, but long term, holding on to the unit could be the wise move. Either way, if I sell or rent, I need to replace the HVAC. My work keeps me busy and I can be on the road for a week at a time, the HVAC is the only thing that hasnt been replaced and I know that clock is ticking.

I'd cash out and invest most in a solid blue chip that pays a good dividend and maybe speculate/have fun with some. Taxed at cap gains rate and life is good. Used to be real estate rental property was a good way for a poor boy to build wealth. Buy for 10% down (or less on a contract for deed), rent cuts most of the nut in the early years and then inflation subsidizes it.

Your situation sounds better than a typical landlord/tenant arrangement so maybe it works out well but in a typical rental know that the law is slanted to favor the tenant.

As I understand Fl law your homestead exemption limits the % annual re tax assessment increase but you don't have that protection with rental property. That will eat into profits and sky is the limit.

If you do decide to rent the condo, be sure to watch that the tenant never gets behind on rent. We had a very sad situation: the wife got breast cancer, died; her husband lost it. He couldn’t/wouldn’t even drive 20 miles to sign up for his wife’s pension from the state which would have provided substantial income. The property manager was too lenient. When finally evicted, floor had to be repaired (sacks of rotting for left on floor), other work done due to negligence by tenant. We swore we’d never let it happen again.
As someone said above: it’s a business, not a charity.