Do you have any experience with this? Or anyone else for that matter. I've been looking at investing in some rental property as well. I dont expect to make a lot of money, but I'd be in it more for the long-term... From what I've heard and researched on Section 8, you renter will be given a voucher for a large portion of the rent. So you'll get those automatic payments and your renter is supposed to pay the rest. So you would get most of the rent from the government.
OP, I think you should do it and post in this thread once a month to let us know how it is going. It's only $28k!! Git er done Morey!
Just bought my first rental property a few months ago, and let me say this: if you're in your forties, overweight and out of shape, have a full time job, have a wife with a full time job, and have a two year old...........I don't recommend it. It's a hell of a lot of work getting that damn thing ready.
Section 8 is generally the best way to go for low income areas. Its pretty safe as money coming in and also the renter will most likely take care of the property or they could lose their free fide. But the property does have to be in good shape else it will flunk inspection.... I leased about 15 properties like this in the past year with sec 8 and the landlord is generally quick to sign the lease most of these being in the south park area/surrounding areas.... I' m doubtful that place is livable at $28k though... $800 rent is doable in any area of houston but the place cant beat a dump...
If for whatever reason your tenant sues, does he/she sue you or the property management company, or both? ..just wondering, cuz if the property mgmt. company is not liable, then they basically can treat your tenant however they see fit and you are on the hook... but i'm guessing that's not how it is?
HTown Property Management. But they recently changed their name to Zing or something like that. From what I understand, they would sue the company. I'm paying them to take on that risk. It's really the only way to go. I have a buddy that has 8 rental properties. It's pretty much his full time job since he was laid off 10 years ago. He buys foreclosures on the cheap (with cash), fixes them up, then rents them out. His cellphone is constantly ringing with tenants issues. I keep telling him he should just hand them over to a management company and he could actually ENJOY his retirement, but he is just stubborn and wants to do everything himself. I say no thanks.
I have the opposite experience from you, my wife (who is a realtor) and I have 6 rentals (& one other house we are currently flipping) and plan to buy more. We keep our rentals in good shape and over our years of doing this have developed relationships with some really good handymen, painters, etc. to handle repairs for us. If a tenant calls with a problem, like the one who's A/C just broke, I just call my guy and he takes care of it (AC was $120 to fix)- nothing more than a few phone calls- 15 minutes time max. In most cases we go months without hearing from our tenants (besides getting rent checks from them in the mail). It is not near as bad as you think- but we enjoy it and are looking at it from the perspective that I am trying to have enough cash flow in the next 10 years to retire from my day job so no way am I paying somebody 10% per month to do nothing most months.
You own the house, so unfortunately you can be sued. If a tennant sues they will likely go after you both. You need an umbrella policy...
I think it depends on what kind of houses you buy, in what neighborhoods, and what kind of people you let in. I've been looking into rental property investing. Just doing my research, and I havent pulled the trigger yet. But I'm sure, if you let shady people in, they'll do shady things.
This is 100% accurate. We buy houses in nice or at least decent neighborhoods. We run a persons credit, their criminal history and verify employment. We also obviously meet them face to face up front and don't rent to them if it does not feel right.
Yeah, I totally get that and that's exactly how my buddy feels about it. Like you, he enjoys it. I guess that comes with experience? In my situation, I had a house that was vacant for 2 years after I got married. Obviously, I had to keep paying the mortgage, and because of the market, I couldn't sell it without losing my equity, so this was the next best thing. I just wanted the damn thing off our books and didn't want to deal with it anymore. I just wanted someone else to pay the mortgage for a few years until the value went back up. Now, who knows. Maybe I'll make more money renting it than selling it in the long run. I drove by the house for the first time since September and it was the nicest looking house on the block. It was NEVER that way when I lived there. Quite the opposite, actually. Even more so when it was vacant. The tenant pays on time every month, so hopefully that's a good sign.
