Current Events > How hard is it to be a landlord?

(+) Yeah! (+)

We're looking to buy a bigger house and move out of our starter home next year or so, but thinking of keeping this house and renting it out because it is so darn cheap (bought it during the tail end of the recession at under $90k with a 2.25% company-assisted mortgage, making my payments (with taxes and insurance) under $600/mo).
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Well you have to collect rent once a month. Sounds extremely hard.
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ChainedRedone posted...

Well you have to collect rent once a month. Sounds extremely hard.

Yeah, literally all they do. Brilliant take.
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ChainedRedone posted...

Well you have to collect rent once a month. Sounds extremely hard.

Well I guess I meant what is the hard parts of being a landlord... Right off the bat, I can think of:
*Tenant selection,
*Deadbeat tenants who destroy property (yea you can sue them but good luck collecting the money),
*Evictions, and
*Dealing with complaints/maintenance.
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MabusIncarnate posted...

ChainedRedone posted...

Well you have to collect rent once a month. Sounds extremely hard.

Yeah, literally all they do. Brilliant take.

Thanks
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Landlords are by and large, complete scum
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Paper_Okami posted...

Landlords are by and large, complete scum

Lol ok pal
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rqF5-bjF84" data-time="
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Use a property management company. They deal with all those things you mentioned. They usually take 10% of rent but they also usually get you better and highet paying tenants. My experience in this arrangement has been good.
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If the people are scum and damage the house, you'd lose quite a bit of your profit repairing things. Security deposits rarely cover the extent of damages if they're human trash. If you have good renters, then it's pretty much something you rarely have to think about. Natural wear and tear will happen, but it's easily workable.

My step-mothers father was in real estate for a very long time. He use to say for every one good tenant, you get three or four bad ones. I've seen what a bad tenant can do and it's not pretty or cheep.
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depending on country you also need to worry about squatters. fucking australia wont do shit to em, and they can literally tell the owner to fuck off.
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brandunh11 posted...

Use a property management company. They deal with all those things you mentioned. They usually take 10% of rent but they also usually get you better and highet paying tenants. My experience in this arrangement has been good.

I didn't think about property management companies... Would they work for someone who just has one property?
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IdiotMachine posted...

Would they work for someone who just has one property?

Of course, that's their job. They have multiple agents working with multiple landlords.
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ChainedRedone posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Landlords are by and large, complete scum

Lol ok pal

housing is something that people need in order to survive. landlords exploit that need to make money. their position is inherently an exploitative one
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Do you have a sense of how much rent per month you can get for your place? Get an estimate of that from Zillow if you are not sure. Then factor in all the expenses youll be paying (mortgage, taxes, insurance, any utilities your town might force you to keep in your name) to get a sense of how much money youll be making on an annual basis. Then factor in some provisions for major expenses (vacancy, repairs and maintenance, capital expenditures) to get an even more conservative sense of what your net rental income will be.

Then try to estimate what you would get selling the place. If it sounds like youd rather have the cash, sell it. If you still would be interested in renting it out to get the passive cash flow, maybe start looking into a property management company as another poster mentioned. If you can factor it in the budget, it could be well worth it to alleviate most of the direct stress to you that being a landlord can bring.

Id personally rather be a full time landlord and make a living off rental properties than work a regular 40-hr a week corporate job, but it really comes down to your personality and exactly what kind of crap you either can, or cant, deal with, and how good you are at budgeting, screening tenants, and dealing with worst-case scenarios.
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averagejoel posted...

ChainedRedone posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Landlords are by and large, complete scum

Lol ok pal

housing is something that people need in order to survive. landlords exploit that need to make money. their position is inherently an exploitative one

Uh...... If I own a property, I am responsible for its maintenance, and I take all the risk by having a stranger come in and live in it, why should I not be entitled to some profit?
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MabusIncarnate posted...

ChainedRedone posted...

Well you have to collect rent once a month. Sounds extremely hard.

Yeah, literally all they do. Brilliant take.

Its literally not. Landlords are required to keep maintenance up on the property and be ready to fix shit when it breaks. Tenants can also be a nightmare who destroy the property. Its not a cake walk.
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misterbum posted...

Do you have a sense of how much rent per month you can get for your place? Get an estimate of that from Zillow if you are not sure. Then factor in all the expenses youll be paying (mortgage, taxes, insurance, any utilities your town might force you to keep in your name) to get a sense of how much money youll be making on an annual basis. Then factor in some provisions for major expenses (vacancy, repairs and maintenance, capital expenditures) to get an even more conservative sense of what your net rental income will be.

Then try to estimate what you would get selling the place. If it sounds like youd rather have the cash, sell it. If you still would be interested in renting it out to get the passive cash flow, maybe start looking into a property management company as another poster mentioned. If you can factor it in the budget, it could be well worth it to alleviate most of the direct stress to you that being a landlord can bring.

Id personally rather be a full time landlord and make a living off rental properties than work a regular 40-hr a week corporate job, but it really comes down to your personality and exactly what kind of crap you either can, or cant, deal with, and how good you are at budgeting, screening tenants, and dealing with worst-case scenarios.

Zillow estimates rental houses in my neighborhood with the same bedrooms/baths and similar amenities to be around $1300/mo. So that's a $700/mo in gross profit, before any income taxes, property management costs, vacancies, repairs, maintenance, etc.
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nemu posted...

Security deposits rarely cover the extent of damages

This is a common misconception. Property owners can sue tenants beyond the amount of the security deposit. So if you pay a $1,000 security deposit and cause $5,000 in damages, then the property owners can sue you for the other $4,000.
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BeyondWalls posted...

nemu posted...

Security deposits rarely cover the extent of damages

This is a common misconception. Property owners can sue tenants beyond the amount of the security deposit. So if you pay a $1,000 security deposit and cause $5,000 in damages, then the property owners can sue you for the other $4,000.

You sure can. But chances of you ever getting that money = zero.
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IdiotMachine posted...

averagejoel posted...

ChainedRedone posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Landlords are by and large, complete scum

Lol ok pal

housing is something that people need in order to survive. landlords exploit that need to make money. their position is inherently an exploitative one

Uh...... If I own a property, I am responsible for its maintenance, and I take all the risk by having a stranger come in and live in it, why should I not be entitled to some profit?

because housing is a basic human need which everyone should have access to
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averagejoel posted...

because housing is a basic human need which everyone should have access to

You have access to it. Just pay for it.
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IdiotMachine posted...

BeyondWalls posted...

nemu posted...

Security deposits rarely cover the extent of damages

This is a common misconception. Property owners can sue tenants beyond the amount of the security deposit. So if you pay a $1,000 security deposit and cause $5,000 in damages, then the property owners can sue you for the other $4,000.

You sure can. But chances of you ever getting that money = zero.

Years of watching The Peoples Court tells me thats not true.
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IdiotMachine posted...

averagejoel posted...

because housing is a basic human need which everyone should have access to

You have access to it. Just pay for it.

some people can't. if you are a landlord, you are contributing to that
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averagejoel posted...

IdiotMachine posted...

averagejoel posted...

because housing is a basic human need which everyone should have access to

You have access to it. Just pay for it.

some people can't. if you are a landlord, you are contributing to that

there ain't no rest for the wicked: money don't grow on trees
they've got bills to pay they've got mouths to feed
ain't nothing in this world for free
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catboy0_0 posted...

averagejoel posted...

IdiotMachine posted...

averagejoel posted...

because housing is a basic human need which everyone should have access to

You have access to it. Just pay for it.

some people can't. if you are a landlord, you are contributing to that

there ain't no rest for the wicked: money don't grow on trees
they've got bills to pay they've got mouths to feed
ain't nothing in this world for free

which brings us back to the initial point:

Paper_Okami posted...

Landlords are by and large, complete scum

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for real I have no desire to be a landlord. even if I'm inheriting a house from my parents, I'd rather just sell it or live in it myself. too much of a headache I'd imagine.
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averagejoel posted...

some people can't. if you are a landlord, you are contributing to that

Work harder, get paid more. That's capitalism.
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IdiotMachine posted...

averagejoel posted...

some people can't. if you are a landlord, you are contributing to that

Work harder, get paid more. That's capitalism.

landlords are not making money for working. they are making money for owning something.

but yes, your second sentence is correct
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averagejoel posted...

landlords are not making money for working. they are making money for owning something.

being a landlord is work
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catboy0_0 posted...

averagejoel posted...

landlords are not making money for working. they are making money for owning something.

being a landlord is work

not inherently.

edit: to clarify, the money made from being a landlord is not predicated on the landlord actually doing anything
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Anything besides manual labor isn't inherently work.
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averagejoel posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

averagejoel posted...

landlords are not making money for working. they are making money for owning something.

being a landlord is work

not inherently.

it's still work. I'll use an analogy. Say there's a shift supervisor. He could dink on his phone all day and not do any of the things he's required to do and that would make him a terrible boss. But to do his job correctly is, you guessed it, work.
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catboy0_0 posted...

averagejoel posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

averagejoel posted...

landlords are not making money for working. they are making money for owning something.

being a landlord is work

not inherently.

it's still work. I'll use an analogy. Say there's a shift supervisor. He could dink on his phone all day and not do any of the things he's required to do and that would make him a terrible boss. But to do his job correctly is, you guessed it, work.

your analogy is ineffective.

supervisors are still paid a wage, which is predicated on them doing work.

landlords make money because they own property, not because they do anything.
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averagejoel posted...

landlords make money because they own property, not because they do anything.

you're incorrect. just because you think they sit there and get free money doesn't make it true. they have to abide by laws and standards set by the community. sure maybe some could get away with sitting on their ass and doing absolutely nothing, but that doesn't mean being a landlord requires no work whatsoever
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catboy0_0 posted...

averagejoel posted...

landlords make money because they own property, not because they do anything.

you're incorrect. just because you think they sit there and get free money doesn't make it true. they have to abide by laws and standards set by the community. sure maybe some could get away with sitting on their ass and doing absolutely nothing, but that doesn't mean being a landlord requires no work whatsoever

whether or not landlords can get away with sitting on their asses all day is compeletely irrelevant to my point.

the amount of money landlords make does not depend on the number of hours they work, or the amount of work they do

even in this topic, people are talking about property management companies which allow landlords to turn a profit while minimizing the work they do
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meh whatever, I don't care anymore takes too much effort
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I've owned a quadplex for 6 years, been using a property management company for 2 years.

If you do it all yourself basically take no risks on people. No pets, no past evictions, only high credit, etc.

Overall multi-unit properties give you a better bang for you buck than single family. If I get a job I'm wanting I'm selling my house, moving in with my parents and buying 6-20 units worth of housing out of the city.
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ChainedRedone posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

Landlords are by and large, complete scum

Lol ok pal

he's mad at "rich people"....you know, those "rich" that make 100k a year
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catboy0_0 posted...

meh whatever, I don't care anymore takes too much effort

as far as I'm concerned, this is as good as admitting that you were wrong.

so thank you, and have a nice day
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work smarter not harder

or more
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There are landlords, and then there are slumlords.
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averagejoel posted...

landlords exploit that need to make money. their position is inherently an exploitative one

There's basic needs and there's entitlement. Your post reeks of entitlement. Nobody asked a person to move into a 5 bedroom/3 bathroom house for $2000 a month when they can go across the city and get a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment for $500 a month.
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