Rentals
 

Any of you guys dabble in any rental homes or condos?? If so, any pointers? I'm thinking about diving in? I can't stand to watch the stock market any longer!!

Thanks.

Apt building or single family?

I'm thinking of a duplex or fourplex.

i have been thinking about the same thing. I am looking at a few townhouses in Lafayette, but I would rather buy something brand new so I wouldnt have to worry so much about maintenance. But a brand new one will run u at least $150k

Some of the new duplex's and fourplex's i've seen have been 250K-450K. I'm not interested in spending that much.

They are building a new townhome complex on the corner of Taft and Auburn right on the southside of UL's campus. They look really nice. They are selling them off individually. I been wanting to call them, but already know they gonna at least want $160k/pop.

It's not as glamorous as it may seem.

Why do you say that? Any dealings with rentals?? If you pick and choose correctly and have a good business plan, everything should be good.

Go check out Fox Run........Lots of 4plexs in there always for sale.....they are all older units, and all need work, but a cool area........you can make MUCH MORE money as a slumlord than trying to rent out high dollar..........

can be a pain in the arse, can be very profitable as well. quality tennants are key but you will soon realize you can judge a book by its cover there are many people who look like decent flok but are complete trash and slobs who ruin you units. it you can find a apt complex or multiple townhomes that are not necesarily run down , just outdated for cheap buy it up, fix it up , fill it up with renters and re sell it to a investor who is not looking to get thier hands dirty with the remodel. section 8 properties in new orleans rake in the dough if you do it right . best advice i can give you is when looking at properties dont be a women about it , what i meen is dont "fall in love" with the property. inspect everything so you know what you are going to be expecting with repairs , find out your comps. in the area , figure out your expectations on profit then determine a price worth paying and stick to it , it is a business decision that needs to be profitable if they dont except your offer dont bother countering just find another because they are a dime a dozen

Sorry I didn't mean to come off short. One of my immediate family members who I worked for was in the housing business.

Over the years he did a bunch of residential/commercial building. Then built and operated a few fairly large section 8 housing complexes from new orleans area to lake charles, apartments, also got into the hotel business for a bit.

There is money to made for sure, especially in areas where you can get some good deals on property with low interest rates. The returns on the investments may not come right away. Doing your own carpentry, electrical, and plumbing will save you a fortune.

Problems can include destruction of your property (drugs, fires, vehicles drivin thru homes....lol), people not wanting to pay, evictions, etc...
Plus the .gov is making it harder and harder on business owners with more red tape, taxes.

Check out this article I was reading today

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Condos...89345.html?x=0

Don't forget you need to rekey the place everytime someone moves out!!!

Go on the northside. Buy some cheap crap. Get it section 8 approved(guaranteed money from he gov. Dont have to chase anyone down for rent money) and roll in the dough.......do inspections of the place every 2 months to make sure they aren't destroying everything, brought in family, got some dogs, etc.........

I used to sell realestate and I deal with this every single day with my job......give me a call, we'll do lunch.

you still have to go to court to evict them when they won't pay their 35 dollar a month rent, never fails a woman will move in, then her cocaine user boyfriend will be camping out causing problems. :grinpimp:

no true! they are responsible for paying i believe 10% onf their monthly income towards the rent . so basiclly you only rent to people making min. wage , over look the 10% count it as a loss. the key is to do more for the tennant if you do section 8 get on their good side that way you can get all the referals from family members and fill up more units . i have a buddy who quit a great job to become a full time "slum lord" :*****: seriously though there is great money in this IF you do it right

And call me for a great deal on SlumLord insurance rates

I steam clean carpet for the slumlords all the time, clean carpet makes crap more rentable! I clean carpet in some of the nicest apartment complexes in Baton Rouge area too. I think trailers and land is the best rental property, buy a couple used trailer for 20k put it on an acre of land rent it out, it pays for itself faster and you don't pay property tax on trailers because they are removable.

If you live out in the country, you can buy housing a lot cheaper.
I work with a couple of guys who bought land and old trailers.
They get decent money for their investments. Just have to keep
the renters on their toes about paying.
If they are 5 days overdue, they get 5 days to vacate. No
questions. You can't listen to the sad stories. They can buy beer,
cigarettes and dope, but they can't afford the rent.
One guy has 2 wood frame houses and 1 trailer in Sheridan, Tx.
and the other has a trailer outside Baton Rouge, La.
I have another past co-worker who bought 3 dumpy old wood
frame houses outside Abbeville. He paid around $27K for all 3 and
gets $300/month for each one.