Depends where you live.. depends who rents it.. depends how much money you have put in it.. for all investments, remember you have to invest first couple of years and then see results!
I dont have an investment property but I deal with landlords and tenats all day long.. the more accomodating plus sensible the landlord is, easiser it will be for them to manage!
you can also think about buying a duplex and renting one portion of it.. on site management is easier!
and you have to have a really good attorney to be a landlord otherwise rules and regulations are usually pro tenants!!! no one at my work shall ever know I said that :D
what about those property management companies that help with renting and take a percentage or thats how I think it is.
Me and hubby are of different opinions about this whole home buying thing ... if I think about it we hardly ever have same opinion :)
(I am, we rather invest our savings and rent a bigger place, he wants a house for kids)
Carry on renting until kids are still in daycare ...
I dont mind that but real estate is at a low right now and we cannot be sure if home prices will stay the same in 3 -4 years so husband thinks if we want to buy a house, this is the right time. We can probably get a small decent house in our price range now in a reasonable neighborhood. I have checked and the house prices have dropped atleast $50,000 if not more. Thats a huge diference.
Its just that I think we should buy a property and rent it out or invest our money somewhere else so we are getting some return on our savings. But we know nothing about renting out and no one we know has done it. I have been reading about it and it sounds difficult, there are so many legal things like gemini pointed out.
what about those property management companies that help with renting and take a percentage or thats how I think it is.
Me and hubby are of different opinions about this whole home buying thing ... if I think about it we hardly ever have same opinion :)
(I am, we rather invest our savings and rent a bigger place, he wants a house for kids)
thats another expense added and here we are talking about keep it affordable :-D
If you dont live near by or in the same state or if the city code requires in town management, you can go for management companies but in my experience they are there to do the business not build relationships that is very important for the small scale landlords!!
Just to give you an example, I know a tenant who hadnt paid rent in 6 months, the landlord gave him an eviction order, both of them were in court, the tenant walked away with $500.00 because he filed a counterclaim of being exposed to the second hand smoke from other tenants!!! mind you, no evidence! I was astonished but like I said tenants do get away with things and landlords need to be very mindful about these things!!
I am not advising against being a landlord but I would rather be an owner than a landlord!