Buying House

Buying House

Winchester Center, CT · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 0 votes

So I got about 40k USD cash  and am 23 years old, that I have been saving up for about half a decade and I plan on moving out of my parents soon. I don't pay rent/electricity etc. at the moment and essentially pocket my paychecks. My question is should I continue saving up about 50k-70k to by my first house in cash and not take out any loans that I can live in and should it be a single family home or a multi family home? I like the idea of buying a duplex and renting out the other side. I like the cash flow on something that I pay for in cash and don't take out a loan for. Do you need like land lord insurance if your tenant burns down your house or something?

I'm just wondering what the suggestion is if I can move out whenever I want and saving up cash isn't a problem or a time limit constraint on saving up for it. If I should wait until I have enough cash to buy a duplex or a single family home?

In the area I'm looking at that has a crime rate less than state average, you can get a duplex or single family home sometimes for 40k - 70k. Most of the time there's no appliances but that's ok. Most of them need cosmetic work to but are completely structurally sound and safe to live in.

I'm unsure of all the legal matters of renting out a duplex if the tenant doesn't pay rent or destroys the place, and having to get evicted. All the legalities of renting out a place is all foreign to me. And horrible tenants seem scary.

Thanks for advice.

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  • Real Estate Consultant · Knoxville TN · Member since 2011 · 112 posts · 81 votes
    10y

    It would sound to me that you have enough money to do a few things, if you can get a loan you would be much better off in my opinion, you can make your money work for you and have a small interest rate on a mortgage rather then being cash poor and not having anything to put into a home incase of repairs needed. Other peoples money is the way to go and age doesnt play into that. For your options, a duplex that can pay you to live there would be the best choice if you don't need a single family home. There are many different insurance options you can look into, generally you would look into an umbrella policy if you are in the property with other tenants, if you have a single family home as a rental usually you would only have what they call a "fire policy" to cover the building but not the tenants belongings. They can also get renters insurance, which is something you could require in your lease agreement. You can have an attorney or title company help you with the legal matters or find a local property management company in your area and see if they have a non-managed option where they rent the home and complete the paperwork then you deal directly with the tenant from there. If you hire a management company they handle all the legal issues and screen the tenant for you and charge a minimal fee, that varies by location so discuss this with them. It is a scary issue to have bad tenants but screening and doing your due diligence can go a long way when picking the right person, especially when living next to them. Evictions are a huge pain and are a waste of your valuable time, however they are pretty easy to do, there may be a good landlords group in your area that can help you with this. Use your cash for the rehab or appliances rather then an all out purchase. 

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